Episode 5137 (10/28/2009)
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EPISODE NUMBER: 5137 (October 28, 2009)
GUESTS: Brian Cox
SEGMENTS: Joe Lieberman does not support the public option, The WØRD: You-Genics, Supercollider being sabatoged from the future
VIDEOS: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I don’t know if it’s because Stephen’s hair is finally at 100% of the Pre-Iraq length, or if he spent a day at a spa on his week off, or what, but he has looked particularly lovely this week. Just glowing.
Tonight was one of those WØRDs that delighted me with the leap of logic satire that tends to spin my head on occasion. To see it done on Fox News by O’Reilly or Beck is infuriating, but to see Stephen masterfully go from people being uninsured to suggesting a Master Race of insurable women and insurance companies’ CEOs was brilliant and most definitely head-spinning.
And can I get an Amen about the official return of Bobby!! What a funny way to bring him back! The whole Time Travel motif this evening, with the supercollider segment and Future Stephen coming back, was made of silly. And I love how Stephen finds a way to use that shiny metal suit at any opportunity. I also love how Future Stephen doesn’t wear glasses.
The interview tonight was fantastic. I loved how Stephen kept coming up with insights that actually freaked out the guest a bit. And I loved even more that Stephen seemed to be so adorkably proud of that fact.
What did all of you enjoy about the episode tonight?
- Joe [Lieberman] is a true independent. He’s independent of political parties, he’s independent of his constituents.
- That’s why before I have sex, I call Allstate. Then I know I’m in good hands.
- A kid that skinny doesn’t need health coverage. Why pay for an x-ray when we can just hold her up to a bright light?
- We are a commodity, like gold or hog futures. [Which Reminds Me, Swine Flu Not Covered]
- [Orange You Glad He Didn't Say Kidney Failure?]
- You’re saying Stephen, Master Race has such ugly connotations. ["Amazing Race" Was Taken]
- [What a DNA-Hole]
- It figures a bunch of Europeans would accelerate God around a track and try to smash him to pieces.
- These physicists are clearly building on their ground-breaking grammar school treatise, Tomorrow Ate My Homework.
- The future’s always keeping us from doing fun stuff. “Oh Stephen, you can’t eat a 12 egg omelet every morning, because ‘in the future’ your heart might explode.”
- Stephen: Well this ends now, folks. I’m not going to take the future coming into its past, our present, lying down. From now on, the future’s going to have to come through me if it wants to play games with time and space and bend reality to suit its whims, right Bobby?
Bobby: Absolutely. - Cool Ranch flavor does not appear in nature, my friend. That’s technology.
- I asked an excellent question of a physicist.
- Brian Cox: You’re saying sensible things, it’s going horribly wrong.
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23 Comments
October 29th, 2009 at 7:58 am
The ending to the Lieberman and You-Genics segments were SO poignant. The audience couldn’t wait to applaud those points. But I wasn’t in the studio, so I applauded before them, heh
My favorite was The Big Bang Theory though, because it supports the always cool scifi quote that history abhorrs a paradox. Except for Bobby. What a subtle time shattering return!
Excellent ep!
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October 29th, 2009 at 8:50 am
DB, your recap mirrors my reaction to the show as it unfolded perfectly. First I thought, “Wow, his hair looks perfect this evening!” And then, “Whoa, The WORD rocks tonight!” On to,”I’m going to have to watch that whole time thing again in the future so I can will have understood it in the past.” [Particularly delicious moments - CERN, helium-voiced Stephen, punching the future.] Then, “ZMG, Bobby!!!” (Yay!!) Then I thought, “What an incredibly rollicking interview. I love how Stephen can’t resist being intelligent even when he doesn’t know it (and is kind of trying not to be).” (Irresistible!!) What a great way to end a show. But then – FUTURE STEPHEN (that suit makes me think of a baked potato and that tie rocks!) I love it when a show’s silly/satisfaction factor just builds and builds through the half hour, leaving me simultaneously completely satisfied and yet wanting more. Yes, I admit it, I’m a little piggy when it comes to Stephen. Somehow I don’t think I’m alone.
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October 29th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Yay Bobby! :)
So cute about the sexiest men thing–oh Stephen you will always be the #1 sexiest man to us!
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October 29th, 2009 at 9:03 am
The looks and engagement of Stephen during the interview warmed my heart. It is what, as a teacher, I want to see in my own students: pride, wonder, excitement and questioning ideas to construct knowledge. So wonderful to watch the process of learning and testing new ideas!!!
Nice brief clip of Bobby, too!
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October 29th, 2009 at 9:36 am
The bit where he sucked helium had me rolling. So funny. And Bobby’s return couldn’t have been more perfect. I was wondering how they would do it, but never expected it to be so subtle and clever.
Brian Cox was fantastic. Since we share the same name, I’m just going to assume that we’re related. :P
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October 29th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I totally thought the same thing about Stephen looking particularly good this week. I just can’t figure out what it is….the fluffy hair? It seems to be more than that though.
Another fantastic The Word. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t really enjoy that segment because they really have taken it to new heights of brilliance.
Stephen was geek tastic during the interview. His love for science is so obvious in moments like that one. It’s beautiful. :)
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October 29th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Geeky Stephen is so sexy :) Welcome back, Bobby!
I loved how he made Brian Cox freak out over the stuff he was saying. Future Stephen’s so shiny, from his suit to his hair.
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October 29th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
This episode was made of WIN from beginning to end. The WORD rocked and Stephen & Brian’s joy in the interview was a delight. And I loved the future/past perfect etc. tense jumble at the end with Future shiny Stephen. And the whole Higgs Boson particle discussion blew my mind.
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October 29th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
The interview last night was great ^^
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October 29th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I immediately logged on to NFZ after i saw Bobby!!! Great to see him and I love that they are bringing him back quite frequently even after he left the show…!
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October 29th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I’m so glad you mentioned Stephen looking extra handsome this week. I thought it was just me and my fangirlish tendencies. You’re right, he just seems to be glowing this week! He’s been so happy and bubbly in every episode! :)
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October 29th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
He does, it’s so cute ^^
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October 29th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I gotta say that the All-state line just made my sides hurt. And the helium, hahahah! When they cut back to Stephen holding the balloon, his face was just priceless. So cute.
That interview was GREAT. He was sooo into the physics stuff, and pulling out all these awesome situations/ideas. Hilarious. I don’t know what I would’ve said if I was Brian Cox. haha!
What an awesome episode. LOVE.
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October 29th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I love it particularly when the guest is an it-getter like Cox, they just make the whole interview more fun to watch. Overall, I feel like the writers have been really coming up with clever stuff lately, i.e., the Bobby reference, the Joe Liebermann smack-down, etc.
I also love future Stephen too. I think everyone imagines that’s how we will all look in 500 years. Shiny.
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October 29th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
The Word was unbelievably amazing – I just love the things that “Stephen” gets away with saying, and then how Stephen manages to tie it all together at the end. Brilliant.
When I saw the return of Bobby, I totally thought of NFZ! :) Such a great way to bring him back.
The interview was awesome. I just loved how Stephen got so excited about getting something right – his eyes lit up and he got such a giddy smile on his face :D. And I loved the comment Brian Cox made that got Stephen laughing – “you’re saying sensible things; this has gone horribly wrong.” Hahaha!
It’s so fantastic that Stephen had a guest on Tuesday to talk about religion and then he had a guest on last night to talk about science and the “God particle.” I love how constantly interested he is in both sides of the spectrum. :)
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October 29th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Another great Word! And a great interview as well. And YAY BOBBY’S BACK! :-)
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October 29th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I loved the whole show, in fact I would nominate it as my favorite of 2009! The WORD was great, it was so perfectly expressed and it does make you wonder how we in the US let the fat cat insurance companies get away with denying people coverage for their pre-existing conditions (even pet insurance companies want to know about them!). Then Stephen turned the rest of the show into one long time/space/geek lovefest, and what better way to bring back Bobby. I was only surprised that there wasn’t more of a reaction from the live audience when he appeared, but maybe they had seen him earlier.
And yes I loved the interview too, it was funny maybe just because Stephen’s real intelligence was coming through and it was still hilarious. And I loved the “sexiest men” thing too.
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October 30th, 2009 at 12:31 am
It’s been a while since I’ve thought “that’s one of the best shows they’ve EVER done”, but that episode really was fantastic.
The Lieberman bit was great, followed by a WORD that could be one of the best ever…then the hilarious Supercollider bit (Bobby!!) which was the perfect segue to a truly awesome interview. If it had ended there with a simple “good night”, that episode would still have been brilliant, but that ending was the icing on the cake. I absolutely love the surreal bits, and “future Stephen” made me laugh more than anything in weeks!
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October 30th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Me like screencap. I am from future.
recaptcha: president’s nuking (!)
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October 30th, 2009 at 2:40 am
i really enjoyed the interview. the smile that stephen gave when called out for “saying sensible things” is priceless. :D
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October 30th, 2009 at 8:14 am
My head was spinning trying to keep up with Stephen for this ep! I feel like a broken record, but I have to say it if it’s true: I LOVED THIS EPISODE!!!
My fave parts were the actual interview with Brian Cox and The Word: You-genics.
I thought it was just very masterful how Stephen spun the interview around on its head and got Brian Cox to agree with him about some of the most ridiculously insightful but hilarious things!
The Word was, yet again, very masterfully done! EXTREME KUDOS to The Colbert Report writers! I feel like I’m getting a graduate level lesson in English Lit and Poli-Sci every time. Moments like these make me wish that Stephen would go on the lecture route.
Thanks for the review and the awesome quotes!
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October 30th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
There have been some excellent episodes since the Emmys, and this episode should win one on its own.
A bean counter like me should never try to understand quantum physics and string theory, but after trying and giving up, it’s wonderful to see Colbert just go for it.
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October 31st, 2009 at 8:14 am
THIS EPISODE ROCKED! I’m playing catch-up on my episodes, so I just finished watching (my Boys of Summer-into-Late-Autumn are in the World Series “assuming the world only includes New York to Pennsylvania!”).
I couldn’t possibly vote for a favorite segment, unless I was allowed to vote for them all. Maybe Stephen appeared to be glowing this week because the episodes were so brilliant. Joe Lieberman’s “Joe-mentum” (“not ‘Lieberman for Connecticut’!”) was admirably skewered. I loved the Word. The helium bit was so adorably funny, I watched it a couple times! Sneaking Bobby into a space-time episode was inspired. Stephen’s interview with Brian Cox was one of the most enjoyable, well-matched interviews on the series. I kept replaying the ending, trying to understand “how did they DO that?”
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