Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – November 14, 2009
Happy weekend, Zoners! Great batch of shows this week, yes? And it looks like another good week ahead, too, with the scheduled guests including Malcolm Gladwell, Norah Jones, and Elvis Costello. (It’s not too soon for a little Colbert Christmas, is it?) In the meantime, here’s some of the Colbert news from the past week, your zeitgeist for November 14th.
The Colbert Report writers at the Paley Center
- The Comedy Central Insider has posted a story and video about the recent Paley Center panel discussion with the Colbert Report writers, as well as a similar panel that featured the writers from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Here’s the video featuring the writers from the Report.
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| Stephen Colbert – The Colbert Report Writers – Frost Nixon Part 2 | ||||
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U.S. Speedskating
- Stephen Colbert endorsement has fast effect on U.S. speedskating coffers – Chicago Tribune: More on the biggest sports story in the Colbert Nation since Ontario Junior League Hockey, with an explanation for why some of the skaters aren’t wearing the CN logo.
Nearly all the athletes began wearing skin suits with the Colbert Nation logo at last weekend’s short and long track World Cup meets. Olympic champions Shani Davis and Apolo Anton Ohno, the leading U.S. long and short track skaters, respectively, so far have chosen not to wear the logo…
“It’s not an issue for us,” Crowley said of Davis and Ohno’s non-participation. “Anyone who has not signed our athlete agreement (which provides some funding in return for endorsing federation sponsors) is under no obligation. We are talking to Shani and Apolo about it, but our main focus is supporting their efforts to do the best they can this season.”
Late night TV
- The best late-night comedy/talk shows of the ’00s – A.V. Club
1. The Daily Show/The Colbert Report: Comedy fans and policy wonks can bicker all they want about whether The Daily Show is better than The Colbert Report or vice versa, but doesn’t everyone watch the two as a package? (Um, no.)… In the first half of the ’00s, The Daily Show was a lifeline for people alienated by the direction the country was headed in, and over the past year, Jon Stewart has shown that he’s just as willing to grill Democrats in power for their hypocrisy and broken promises as he was willing to confront Republicans…. [T]he curious genius of The Colbert Report has been the way Stephen Colbert and his writers have developed their main character, giving him traits a lot like the real Colbert’s… and mixing those with the absurdity of contemporary demagogues… [E]very Colbert Report episode is a tour-de-force solo performance by a man who seems to genuinely love entertaining people (and soaking up their adulation).
TDS and TCR videos online
- NewTeeVee Live: Comedy Central Gets 500,000 Online Views from HuffPost, No Joke – NewTeeVee.com
Erik Flannigan, Executive Vice President of Digital Media at MTV Networks Entertainment Group, shared some interesting details at our NewTeeVee Live conference today about the way his networks are utilizing online video. Flannigan’s job is overseeing the web sites of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and these sites have been generating tons of video views for the network. Take Jon Stewart ripping into Fox News, for example. Clips like that receive 500,000 viewers from Huffington Post alone.
The Colbert Report in the Land Down Under
- Colbert coming to ABC2 – TV Tonight: News for our Aussie Zoners, from ABC Managing Director Mark Scott’s Twitter feed: In truthiness, Colbert in ’10, 5 nights a week on ABC2. Dates/times later. I’ve said too much already!
Support the troops – shave your head!
- Woody Harrelson Lets Stephen Colbert Shave His Head for the Troops – Mediaite: Rachel Sklar had some nice praise for Stephen’s assault on Woody Harrelson’s hair and for TCR in general:
This clip crystallizes one of the reasons why The Colbert Report is so damn good: Anything can happen, and when it does, it will happen for the right reasons.
It will also be kooky, goofy, funny and hilarious — but it will be shot through with decency, charity, tolerance and warmth. You will seriously never find mean humor on the Colbert Report. It’s just not what that show’s about.
Gratuitous name dropping
- Dean trumps comedian Stephen Colbert for tower’s name – Knoxville News Sentinel: Students at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville wanted to name a newly-renovated apartment building for Stephen Colbert, but that idea was axed in favor of the name The Tower at Morgan Hill. Instead of having the building named after him, Stephen gets his own honorary parking space: …[A] parking space will be reserved in case the comedian drops by. On days when Colbert is not using the space, it will be raffled for student use. (The article also has a picture of marketing executive Chuck Morris (hee!) displaying the sign that will mark the space.)
Reminder – A Colbert Christmas to be available on iTunes
- Since I mentioned Elvis Costello at the beginning of this post, now seems like a good time to remind you that A Colbert Christmas will be available for download on iTunes beginning on Nov. 23rd. It’s available for pre-order now.
(h/t DB, Ms I, Jennie, and Katt)
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