EPISODE NUMBER: 5124 (September 29, 2009)
GUEST: Matt Latimer
SEGMENTS: Spider Pope, The WØRD: Out Of The Closet, Cheating Death with Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA
VIDEOS: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Spider pope, spider pope, does whatever a spider pope does! Loved the appearance of keyboard cat. It’s a bit old, but at least it’s not completely worn out like the “Ima let you finish” meme. What did that last, about 17 seconds? But those were a glorious 17 seconds, huh?
I’m so appreciative of the work that Jon and Stephen to do bring out the hypocrisy of our government. It absolutely blows my mind that there are so many government officials who so blatantly lie in bed with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Speaking as someone who won’t have insurance through work for the next three months until it kicks in at my new job, I’m thinking the public option sounds pretty good right about now, and it’s so frustrating to hear so many politicians who cater to the will of the lobbyists as opposed to the will of the people that elected them.
It’s Cheating Death time, and you know what that means, kids. Say it with me – CHARACTER BREAKS! And this one didn’t let us down. Holy cow, that was funny! My stomach was still hurting from laughing at the pig face when the big character Vax-Anus break happened. And the little break during Vaxebo was just a cherry on top of the sugary cake.
This is going to be a close vote today – The WØRD verses Cheating Death. Satire verses silly, who’s going to triumph?
- It is no secret that I am a proud Catholic. That is why I’m always telling my neighbors they’re going to hell in Latin. Ibis in malam crucem, Walter!
- Can you imagine?! Spider powers AND infallibility! He could shoot holy water from his wrists, trap athiests in his web, and every time someone used birth control his popey sense would tingle.
- That way we’ll know the bill’s a failure if it’s played off by piano cat.
- See, all he wants is for some time for health care lobbyists to change the bill.
- There are some things that everybody knows but nobody says. [Stephen's Hair Growing Back Weird]
- I say it is time for congress to stop introducing lobbyists as their “roommate”. [Friends With "Special Interests"]
- It’s a thousand pages! [And Not One Quidditch Match!]
- Max Baucus – I take more money from the health care lobby than anyone else in congress
- It’s not a tracheotomy, it’s a shortcut to flavor country.
- It’s perfect for when you need a nicotine fix and you don’t mind looking like the pig faced people from the Twilight Zone.
- The flavor really sticks with you.
- Vax-Anus – The world’s first smokeless tobacco suppository. Finally a way to make your butt hole look sophisticated.
- My upper lip is paralyzed from nicotine.
- No longer will your nicotine fits cause co-workers to ask, what’s up his ass?
- Side effects of Vax-Anus: Mid-liver crisis, Marlboro Mangina, and plug of tobacco up your rectum.
- I know sugar helps me with both phases of my bipolar disorder, those times when I feel like a nut, and those times I don’t.
- That’s why Prescott proudly introduces their new product, a five bound bag of sugar. And just for appearances, let’s call it Vaxebo.
- You control the dosage. If you have a sinus infection, take a spoonful. Feel depressed? Take a cupful. Have erectile dysfunction? Just dip your junk right into the bag until it looks like a sour patch kid.
- Because this is just pure sugar, there are no side … ooh, side effects may include Oompa Loompa lung, and vestibular Snickers.
- Was it hard to make it to the door because so many people were fleeing from the front of the White House? Did you feel like a salmon fleeing upstream?
- Did you know what you were writing about when you wrote the speech, or at some point did you want to just throw up your hands and say “F@#k it, bury your money”? At any point, was that in the draft for the president?
That was an EPIC character break last night. I thought The WØRD was excellent and I always appreciate the writing that goes into it, but I was on my couch, helplessly laughing (and rather dimly hoping my neighbors weren’t bothered by the noise) for the entirety of that Cheating Death segment. I agree with DB that the Pig Man face was funny enough, but when Stephen realized his upper lip was numb and just lost it … wow.
I’m grinning and stifling giggles again just remembering it!
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Last night’s show was so good, it irked me that the interview was so bad. I hate guests who sit there and expect to be entertained. If he doesn’t have a guest who is on fire to tell the world his important message, whatever it might be, there’s nothing for Stephen to push against and all the air goes out of the interview.
Like the night before, the interview wasn’t all that humorous, but it was interesting and gripping because she was so passionate, he had something to work off of.
Cheating Death was gigglicious. :)
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‘The Word’ last night was pretty damn sharp, imo- not as intense as ‘blackwashing’ was, but in a similar vein in terms of how direct his satire was. However, I’m a sucker for character breaks, and the at least three tries to get that one line out made cheating death get my vote. :)
(recaptcha: Mass dittoes)
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That Word was really good and very satisfying! I didn’t think anything else would be able to top that. Then they had a Cheating Death segment. LOL! Cheating Death has long been my favorite bit but last night’s was really hilarious. I laughed pretty hard through the whole thing and I’m still giggling thinking about it this morning. :-)
And I agree that the interview was pretty dull.
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I actually thought the interview was okay. Not the most entertaining, but not the dullest, either. I had a chance to look through Matt Latimer’s book at work, and something that didn’t come out in the interview (due to time constraints, I’m sure) was how enthusiastic he was when he initially went to Washington, and how disillusioned he was by the time he left the administration, a few months before the 2008 election. Bad government will do that to you, I suppose.
But nothing can beat Cheating Death. I think that might’ve been the funniest one ever, because of the extremely rare triple-giggle character break. Good grief, that was epic. As soon as he put that… stuff, whatever it is, in his mouth, I knew it was going to be trouble.
My first thought when I knew he was doing Cheating Death: “Aw, that means he won’t do it when I’m there on Thursday.” Dangit. But I’m sure I’ll get to see something equally awesome.
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I would think spending a lot of time in Washington politics would cause anyone with a soul to become disillusioned. I think that’s what disappointed me about the interview. He didn’t get into any of that and it would have given “Stephen” something to push back against. It wasn’t a horrible interview, but it wasn’t a great one either.
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I’d love to hear from any Zoners who were at last night’s taping, you lucky people!
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Cheating Death was so hilarious but I had to vote for the WORD cause it was so incredibly well written.
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Cheating Death was EPIC!!! I loved the WORD, and this one was particularly well-written, but I’m a sucker for character breaks. Not to mention, like a lot of people, Cheating Death has been a favorite for some time. Along with the Threatdown (what happened to it, by the way? Why did they stop writing those???).
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Epic character break vs. superbly written WORD. Ugh, do I have to choose just ONE??
I was hoping the interview would be a little juicier but turned out to be a bit disappointing.
But everything non-interview was utterly brilliant. I’m going to have to choose the WORD because I have a bigger bias towards well-written satire. But that character break is going down in the “watch over and over again” archive for sure.
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The Word was very well written! We all know it is happening and that it is non-partisan, but no one will say anything. Which really upsets me that this type of information is being broadcast by TCR [as "edutainment" my new favorite word] and not by other actual news outlets. But then came Cheating Death to calm me down…
I am just glad they decided not to retape the segment and allowed it to run w/ the major character break! That made my night!
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The Word was great, but Cheating Death is my favorite segment and last night it was absurdly funny with the character break bonus. (Oddly, my male friend didn’t think the Sour Patch Kid joke was as funny as I thought it was…)
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Cheating Death, hands down! When there is a segment that funny, it makes me almost forget the rest of the show. I’m glad they left the character breaks in too. On the LMFAO-ometer it was me literally rolling off the couch tears in eyes.
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Cheating Death is one of my favorite segments anyway, cause it almost guarentees a character break. But last night I like….nearly died of laughter. It was amazing from beginning to end!!!
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Alright! A character break to rival Filliam H. Muffman!
Just prior, he tried to say ‘something else’ and it came out as ‘something elth’. (I think his brain is speeding way ahead of his mouth when it comes to reading the prompter.)
Yay! Its nice to see him back fully this week. ‘Cos last week, he was just radiating a subdued sadness. Or was I just projecting mine? EMMYS!!!! Yep, that’s probably it.
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Filliam H. Muffman! I’m laughing just thinking about that – one of the greatest character breaks of all time! :D
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Just thinking about the character breaks last night is making me giggle and smile. :) He was SPOT-ON funny last night! I thought that Monday’s show was the best one I’d seen all month, but last night’s ep definitely proved me wrong.
The Spider Pope bit was great, and The Word was fantastic, but the character breaks. OHHHHH the character breaks! I could not stop laughing throughout the entire Cheating Death bit (which is one of my favorite recurring segments) and was laughing so hard that my face hurt and I had tears welling up in my eyes :D. The interview wasn’t great, but I didn’t think it was bad. Matt Latimer was a good guest, but he wasn’t really engaging too much into Stephen’s character, and it seemed like Stephen had to put more into his questions. Still funny, though.
TCR has been on the top of its game ever since Stephen came back from that 3-week vacation…I’m thinking that relaxation was just what he needed, and both I and my funny bone appreciate it :)
And lastly, how freaking ADORABLE is that hair?!?! It looked so purdy last night I could barely contain myself haha. Can’t wait for tonight’s episode!
PS: Thank you so much for that screen cap! It made my day :)
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That had to be the best Cheating Death ever – which is really saying something! I mean sure, we’ve seen plenty of character breaks, but a three-some character break? What a highlight!
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I was all set to vote for the Word, because it was hysterically pointed satire, brilliantly written and superbly delivered. However, character breaks always win, and as others have said, these were indeed EPIC! I love it when Stephen is helplessly laughing as hard as the rest of us. Just love it.
My opinion on the interview is that Latimer was laughing at everything Stephen said, so he wasn’t able to focus on his own responses, and there wasn’t the give & take that I’ve come to expect in the interviews.
recaptcha: joyrider Press
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like so many others, when the word finished I was thinking “OK, that definitely gets my vote.” it was so directly, and critical of both parties (which makes sense because it’s such a prevalent problem.) I was really pleased by it and it makes me frustrated, but glad that people like Colbert can say things like that and not get cleverly removed from the public discourse.
on the other hand, OMG!!! CHEATING DEATH!!! I was soooo amused I kind of smacked at my computer, which was good because I accidentally paused it and took a few seconds to just sit here laughing until I was collected enough to see the rest of the segment. I am a comedy devotee, but that is the funniest thing I have watched in ages.
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seriously, it’s almost a shame both the WORD and Cheating Death had to occur on the same night. The WORD was worthy of that Emmy Writing award. But oh, the character breaks…
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Best Cheating Death segment ever! Three character breaks in a row, a Twilight Zone look and taking Mary Poppin’s advice to the next level was priceless! I’ll never look at a sour patch the same way again. He says so many naughty things in an oh-so-charming way:)
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I was laughing at the Cheating Death segment. But for all the character break goodness in that portion of the show, I still loved The Word best. It was very pointed and dead-on. I’ve noticed that Stephen’s been very, very sharp on his satire lately, from Let Freedom Ka-Ching to Blackwashing and now this. It’s like his real opinion is starting to leak out of the edges and it’s becoming less of a satire and more of an actual calling out against everything that’s wrong in American politics. But of course, that’s why I like watching this show. Just when you think he’s about to break character in a very serious way, he reins it back in and you blink and it’s gone.
Maybe next year he’ll win not just an Emmy but another Peabody? Hmm… ^_^
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I’ve tried that snus stuff before and knew Stephen would f*!k up if he really put that in his mouth. It’s the most bitter, mouth wrenching taste you can imagine. I’m surprised he kept going as long as he did :-D
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Pretty please, can be careful with your language, sambalchuck? It makes the lives of your humble moderators easier. Thanks!
(And that does sounds like an awful taste. Poor Stephen!)
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I’m so behind w/ traveling. I finally watched this episode, and *had* to go with Cheating Death! How great! I was laughing way too loud (husband asleep), and at the end of the show, rewound it and watched the Lung Health segment again.
I did love The Word. It was perfect. But three character breaks? Priceless. Still smiling about that. And the pig faced man from the Twilight Zone? Also hilarious. I *love* The Twilight Zone! Stephen did that face perfectly.
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