Welcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of cultural references on The Colbert Report. From Darcy to Danger Mouse, String Theory to Shakespeare, we’ve got the keys to this week’s obscure, oddball, and occasionally obscene cultural shout-outs (hey!).
Hey Zoners! Wahoo, let the Olympic coverage begin! This is going to be such a blast. Even with so many great segments this week, I have to go with Cheating Death (Side effects: Right Said Head?!). What were the highlights for you this week? Can you think of other outrageously long segment titles from other episodes? Post them in the comments! (* = TCR/TDS link)
Monday: Intro & Amateur Hour at the White House
[Something Is Melting in Denmark]
Gotta love a quickie nod to Shakespeare (“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”), and from my most favorite play of all, Hamlet.
“Everybody’s talking about the party crashers at the President’s State dinner.”
President Obama’s first official state dinner, given in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was the hottest ticket in town last week. Apparently, though, you didn’t actually need a ticket, or even an invitation (if only I’d have known!). Aspiring reality stars & socialites Michaele & Tareq Salahi somehow managed to bypass White House security, attending the event and rubbing elbows with Washington’s political high society. (The couple also appeared in Tuesday’s Better Know a Made-Up District, in a pop-up ad for “Become an Overnight Celebrity! Click Here!”). Over at TDS, * Jon examines the resulting, and ridiculous, media circus.
Tuesday: Better Know A Made-Up District & Gold, Frankincense and Mars
“Connecticut’s 42nd district is located in the middle of the River Styx, and appears only once every 100 years. The 42nd is populated by a diverse mix of whites, blacks, hispanics, and sleestacks. The district’s largest city is Atlantis, whose controversial mayor Snuffleupagus made headlines recently thanks to a torrid affair with the elusive Chupacabra. The 42nd has a proud tradition of unicorn breeding, celebrated at the annual unicorn rodeo where riders who can stay on a bucking unicorn for 8 seconds live forever. Notable residents of the 42nd include Norm’s wife Vera, Charlie Brown’s teacher, and the smoke monster from ‘Lost’. And who has the secret sack to represent the 42nd? Why it’s Freshman congressman Brad Pitt’s character from ‘Fight Club’“
Add * Nessie as socialite queen and * Sasquatch as a car wash attendant, and I think you’d have just about every legendary imaginary creature resident in that district. (h/t DB!)
“I don’t understand why the Church is all ‘ground control to Cardinal Tom.”
It’s sing-along time, folks: “Ground control to Major Tom, commencing countdown, engines on…” That’s from David Bowie’s classic 1969 song, “Space Oddity”. (Side note, Major Tom also makes an appearance in another favorite Bowie song, “Ashes to Ashes”). Bowie and Stephen have a lot in common, too, what with them both having spiders named after them, * not to mention Stephen’s glam-rock alter-ego, Figgy Moonpowder.
Wednesday: Intro & Deployment Figures
“And my guest Craig Watkins is a Dallas District Attorney who’s using DNA evidence to overturn old convictions. We’re finally going to learn who really shot J.R. [Bring in D.A. Noise].”
The Tony award-winning musical Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, choreographed by tap genius Savion Glover, fused hip-hop, funk, and dance into a tour-de-force history of tap which played on Broadway from 1995-1999 (you must watch this great Charlie Rose segment about the show, including stunning dance by Glover). So sad I wasn’t able to see this live!
As for who shot J.R.? That was the biggest water-cooler question in 1980, when the popular TV drama Dallas ended its season with a cliffhanger in which lead character J.R. Ewing was shot, with just about every other character as a plausible suspect. In the days before 500 channels, this was big pop culture news, spawning “I shot J.R.” merchandise galore, and even netting the covers of People and Time magazine. Btw, Kristin did it.
“The Prophet loves lasagna… I would never, never show a cartoon of the Prophet.”
I couldn’t help but snicker at the idea of A Garfield Ramadan. The eponymous comic strip starring lasagna-loving fat cat Garfield hit its peak popularity back in the early 1980′s (The many books? Plush Garfields people stuck on their car windows? TV specials?), but I guess he’s still going strong. Good thing Stephen clarified that he wasn’t depicting Garfield as the Prophet Muhammad, lest that put him in with the Danish newspaper which engendered controversy (and violent protests) in much of the Muslim world when it published a series of editorial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Stephen, in contrast, is quite sensitive to the issue, having * contributed to a pro-Muslim PSA (“I am an American Moslem”) back in his TDS days.
Thursday: Skate Expectations
“Stephen Colbert’s Skate Expectations Kicking Ice and Taking Donations On the Slippery Slope Down the Icy Path To the Frozen Road Up to Vancouver ’010.”
Ok, so it’s not a cultural reference, but the title just cracked me up, and made me think of the 2008 election night: * “The Final Endgame Alpha Action Go Time Lift-Off Decide-icidal Hungry Man’s Raw Extreme Power Ultimate Voteslam Smackdown ’08 No Mercy: Judgement Day ’08 ’08″.
Thank you so much for making these! As a non-American viewer I don’t always get the references if they’re purely American popculture, so having them explained really helps my enjoyment of the show. You are awesome!
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Great job, as always, Wren. This week was particularly referential.
But I gotta ask… doesn’t “Who shot J.R.” deserve a bit of clarification?
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Doh! I knew there was one more in there I’d planned to do. I just popped the links in there, thanks for catching that!
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lol – it really was an incredible moment in pop culture. And poor me – I had just returned to the US after several years abroad and had never heard of ‘Dallas’ or J.R. and had no idea what was going on.
And ya gotta love Brigadoon!
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Man, that’s a lot of links! Nicely done. I think the Brigadoon reference remains my favorite for the week, but those writers pack so much into every show that it’s got plenty of competition.
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