New York Comedy Festival 2009

This report of Stephen Colbert’s Stand Up for Heroes event this past week is brought to you courtesy of Zoner Gentoo, who was kind enough to do the only writeup I’ve seen on Stephen’s part of the event. This was originally featured as a comment, but it was too good to leave there. Enjoy!

I was [at the Stand Up for Heroes event], part of my birthday with Stephen doubleheader. I didn’t get out of the ‘Colbert Report’ studio until 8:10pm so didn’t get to Town Hall until around 8:35pm. Fortunately I didn’t miss anything important, like Stephen and Springsteen, which is the whole reason I went.

Had no idea what to expect from Stephen, so when he walked out in his camo suit I did a total fangirl squee of delight. He was wearing the suit because he talked about and showed photos from his Iraq trip. Many of the photos I don’t recall seeing anywhere before. He started talking about the initial invite and showed the photo of the “grunts”. Next was his “shield” and he explained all the bits in detail, such as the hair dryer representing the hot wind of Iraq. And that of course the balls were his balls. Then photos of the trip over, including a very silly one of him with Qatar Airways flight attendants. They connected with another flight to Kuwait then the military transport to Baghdad. Apparently landing in Baghdad is quite an adventure as they descend like a corkscrew. Nothing like a normal gradual descent like on a regular airline. And when they landed they were greeted not with leis like in Hawaii but helmets and flak jackets (which, as he pointed out, did wonders for his hips. In other words, made them look huge!). He talked about the initial shock of the heat and the dust, and again mentioned how it was like standing behind the exhaust pipe of a bus. There was quite a spectacular photo of a huge sandstorm that hit on their 2nd day. Everything was orange. Then he showed photos of Camp Victory, including where they stayed, which looked like trailers from the outside. Apparently they are stronger than trailers because he joked that they were on the perimeter because the Iraquis knew they couldn’t be breeched, they are that sturdy. That was followed by photos of the local eateries, Burger King, Taco Bell (”where if you run to the border, it’s Kuwait”), and Cinnabon (”because in 120 degree heat, there’s nothing better than a hot bun with icing on it”).

Stephen then showed several photos from the palace where they filmed. There were a couple of frescoes that were all over the walls, and all the figures had Saddam Hussein’s face on them. “Well either him or Geraldo Rivera.” (he wasn’t joking, they did look like Geraldo!) There was another of a throne that had written in Arabic above it something about Israel not existing (I can’t remember the exact quote). So appropriately the next photo was of one of the Jewish writers from TCR sitting in the throne. That was followed by a couple of photos from the set and then of his “horrible injury” – the shaving of his head.

He ended with several photos of the troops at the shows. He spoke at length about how honored he was to do those shows and how moving the reaction had been from the troops. It was particularly special after the last show when he could share the adulation with his staff as they joined him onstage. It was quite wonderful to hear him speaking so honestly about it as Stephen, not “Stephen”. Then he spoke briefly about Afghanistan and that we can’t forget the troops there. However, he wanted us to know that “there is no f#@*ing way I am taking my show to Afghanistan”. And with that he bid us good night.

I hope I’m not forgetting any important details. I was scribbling notes down on the flight home last night trying to remember it all. It was really interesting to see him more as Stephen than “Stephen” and how he’s been affected by this trip so many months later. Really happy I managed to go to this. And BRUUUUUUUCCCCCEEEEEEE was pretty exciting too. Seriously, seeing Stephen (twice!) and Springsteen on your birthday, does it get any freaking better than that???

Oh, Brian Williams was pretty funny giving World Series updates throughout the evening (he also did the local weather forecast, so he’s an all-around newsperson!). When Stephen first came out he said he was happy the Yankees were doing well but also a bit bummed as well since he had tickets to game 7. Oh, well.

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