Greetings, Zoners! I hope you’ve all enjoyed the massive outpouring of awesomeness that was Stephen’s visit to Vancouver this week. As a fan, I was overwhelmed with glee at all the fun activities we’ve been able to glimpse the past few days. But I’ll admit, as an NFZ completist, I was overwhelmed, period. There was too much out there to keep track of it all, and by Thursday afternoon I had to admit defeat. So I just sat back and enjoyed the fun when I could (I hate it when work interferes with my fangirling), and spent my evenings going back and forth between watching the Olympics and dashing around the Interwebs to find the latest Colbert news/photos/video. I spent today going through everything I’d missed, and seriously, words cannot express how much I would’ve liked to be in Vancouver this week!
It’s been impossible to avoid spoilers, but in the interest of keeping at least a few surprises for next week, I’m going to put the majority of this zeitgeist behind the cut so that if you have the strength to resist temptation, you won’t have the whole week completely spoiled for you. With the overwhelming amount of info floating around the Interwebs from Stephen’s trip, it’s inevitable that we’re going to miss something. I think I’ve rounded up the best highlights here, but if you see anything good out there that we didn’t put up on the blog, pass it along to us!
The first item isn’t a spoiler at all, but I thought I’d throw in a link to Stephen’s completely delightful appearance on NBC last night, which happened during the late night telecast. He looks fantastic in the Mountie uniform, don’t you think? (Click on the picture to go to the video.) (h/t to justine marie for originally posting the link in a comment to Ms. I’s earlier post)
Stephen Colbert: The Full Mountie. And the Moose Formerly Known as Ebersol.
Creekside Park
- The Vancouver Observer has a report, with pics, of the second taping at Creekside Park on Thursday. Love this comment from one of the spectators: “If the crowd chanted it, Stephen did it.” One of those chants, of course, was “ride the moose.” I now have this strange urge to create a t-shirt that reads “I rode the moose for Stephen Colbert.”
- There’s some truly awesome eye candy here from the second taping at Creekside Park. Stephen looks like a natural with Seth Westcott’s gold medal draped around his neck. I think Seth is lucky he got it back!
- More pics from Creekside Park, Day 2, here.
- Some taping reports from Day 2 at Creekside Park: here, with video and pics (and the video is probably the best spectator video I’ve seen from either day); here, with some great pics, including a couple that give you an idea how huge the crowd was; here, with even more great pics, including the surprising sight of cherry trees in bloom in downtown Vancouver (keep scrolling down after the Colbert pics); and a really fabulous and very thorough report from Zoner Priya Noblet.
- The Associated Press has a pretty complete write-up of the first taping, and includes some lovely eye candy.
- There’s more video here on You Tube for those of you who aren’t tired of seeing the beginning of Wednesday’s taping in Creekside Park. I still snicker every time I hear Stephen say that he likes Bob Costas because he’s “bite-size.” (Via Newser.)
Colbert conquers the world
- Among the flying visits Stephen made to the various cultural pavilions on Thursday was a stop at the Olympic Pride House, where he was presented with a pride pin that made him ask if he was “Queen for a Day.” The HuffPo article in the link has been changed since I first read it — initially it contained a lot of spoilery information — but there’s another brief write-up of Stephen’s visit at the OutQ News Blog that includes some pics. (I desperately want one of those crew t-shirts!) There’s also a brief video up on You Tube with Stephen giving his usual pre-interview explanation of what to expect from him.
- Another Thursday afternoon stop was at USA House. Stephen, being the amazingly gracious person that he is, asked the staff there to pose for pictures with him because the employees themselves were prohibited from soliciting pictures with guests. There are great pics here, too, including a photo of the TCR press pass (the back of it is hilarious) and an official Colbert Report Olympic pin. And now I want one of those pins to go with the crew t-shirt!
- I already blogged about Stephen’s visit to the Irish House pavilion the day it happened, but there have since been updates describing the visit, from the Vancouver Sun and IrishCentral.com. Stephen also talks a little about the visit in this article from the Stamford Advocate that Ms I linked to in her post last night. Stephen gets extra credit points, and my undying admiration, for singing “Rocky Road to Dublin.” I’m really impressed, because that is NOT an easy song to sing. I can’t wait to see that performance on the Report next week.
General news
- The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article on Katherine Reutter with this great quote regarding Stephen’s presence in Vancouver: “That little stinker: He keeps hanging around with the long track (skaters)… I had no such luck. Why doesn’t he hang out with me?”
- The Washington Post has an interesting article on sports psychologists (real ones, not “assistants”). This part made me grin: “‘It is an indication that the field has made it when Stephen Colbert is able to mock it,’ said Sean McCann, senior sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic team…”
- US Speedskating has some photos up on their Facebook page with an intriguing caption: “Reception with US Speedskating to thank Stephen Colbert for his support of the team…this is all we can show you for now but be sure to watch The Colbert Report for more Skate Expectations!”
And with that, I’m off to watch some speedskating, y’all! Have a great weekend and prepare yourselves for some amazing shows next week!
(h/t Ms I and Jennie)
Edit: Thanks to both Indeedy and mori in the comments for pointing out this fantastic slide show on NBC’s Olympic web site.
I posted via twitter to DB but i’ll share it here: this is a must see news clip and photo
http://youtubevideo.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/8001d1fc7arrell1.jpg.jpg
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“Stephen Colbert likes working here a lot.” haha I love it!
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I hope everyone is watching NBC primetime—Shani is going for 2nd gold and Ohno is going for his 7th Olympic medal.
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Oh I am for sure! I’ll be rooting for Shani, Ohno, and Celski :).
I think they might be covering some women’s speedskating tonight as well, though it may be in late-night.
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Shani goes (from the in-show promo in 20 minutes). I’m excited for Shani. I think the media gave him a bad rep in 2006 and tried to do the same with the Colbert comment. Its easy to take stuff out of context, and I contend that he is still correct. “Colbert” is a jerk; but Colbert is a sweet man. I think the CP was asking about Colbert the character and Shani was absolutely correct in his characterization.
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I actually was talking to a friend of mine Wednesday who was telling me that she used to speedskate, and that she’s actually raced Shani and a couple members from the women’s team in past speedskating camps, which I thought was massively cool (she’s from Bay City MI, just like Morgan and Alex Izykowski, who are rooming with JR Celski in Vancouver).
I was SO happy for Shani when he won the gold in the 1000m a couple days ago. The man’s got talent, that’s for sure. And when I had first heard the “jerk” comment, I’ll admit I thought it was a dick move at first, but I didn’t really think too much else of it. And after he raced Stephen (the way Stephen handled the whole thing was fantastic by the way), and after seeing him in interviews more this week, he really seems like a nice guy. I wish him loads of success.
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That is really cool… Down here in Florida I think I would be shocked if I ever ran into a person who was a professional on ice. We used to have a hockey team here in Tally—but even that was short lived.
As for Shani, I think Media loves the soundbites. The Canadian Press only quoted Shani, and provided no context. They failed to show the question asked and when a news organization does that—I doubt the answer that is received.
I also have to believe that Davis being one of the most prolific winter game atheletes reporters are trying to get “the scoop.” So I expect questions that may deliver questionable responses. Again, I hate to be a broken record, but when a reporter fails to report their question that is before an answer that says a lot.
I would like to think that we in the Colbert Nation can judge properly how a person answers in an unedited context. However, the press played it as if Shani was unedited and that’s not true. The Canadian Press edited him by not showing the asking question. Shani would not say Colbert is a jerk without a provocative question. And I also have to say Colbert the character IS A JERK.
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I’ve given up all hope of avoiding spoilers. I just don’t have it in me – all of this coverage of Stephen in Vancouver is too exciting! This entire week has just been FANTASTIC.
I really love that Chicago Now article. It was really nice of him to ask them for pictures so they wouldn’t violate their codes of conduct. And that picture of Stephen with Ms. Clark in the slideshow is adorable. I want one of those pins too!
And I posted this in another post, but I found this video of Stephen at the Irish House on YouTube. There’s footage of him singing towards the end (it might be hard to hear, but from what I could hear, he rocked that song!) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQRKOMAIIN4
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Love those pictures of Stephen at the USA House – especially the one of him hugging that girl. What a lucky gal!! :D And the press passes are absolutely priceless.
Thanks for rounding all of this awesomeness into one place!
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I can’t watch the video because I’m not in the US :-(
Did they show Stephen meeting Johnny Weir beforehand? There’s a great slideshow here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/wgal/photos/galleryid=432319.html#johnny+weir+meets+stephen+colbert
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Given how awful a time I’ve had trying to watch anything on NBC’s site (despite my being in the US), I also hope things show up on YouTube or some comparable site.
But those photos are fabulous!
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I totally missed those pics! I updated the post to add a link. Thanks!
(reCAPTCHA: Robert glint. Hahaha…)
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I hadn’t noticed these – thank you so much! These are so fantastic and adorable!!
I was definitely rooting for Weir in his free skate, and thought he totally got robbed.
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Haha, these are great, Ann! I love how in the video, all the Canadians are like “take us off the [On Notice] list!”
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LOL—I love how they took offense to the on-notice board.
I absolutely love that board.
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Me, too! I really like Stephen’s comment similar to- You’re not “Dead to Me”, right? Just “On Notice”? and subsequent agreeing to the removal. You can’t fight with a chanting mob!
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I was over ridden with happiness when he said he’d take us off! *sigh* being in that crowd was amazing!
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PriyaNoblet, thanks so much for your awesome reporting! I felt like I had been there. What a blast. And I’m glad Stephen took Canada off the On-Notice Board.
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I’m happy he gave into the Canuck crowd…I only hope that his character is just as ignorant and finds something else wrong with Canada once he gets back =p
Its always fun to poke at the Canadians. We love to poke fun of ya—its easier than poking fun of retards (by retards I don’t meant persons with disabilities, I mean stupid persons who have zero sense of humor and need this disclosure to clarify that).
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Holy Cow—Morrison looked like he was gonna be in the medal position…and the other guy did something spectacular (from Russia perhaps?)
Speedskating is absolutely my most fav winter Olympic sport.
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Shani Wins Silver in the 1500M!!!
Congrats Shani we love you!
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That race was awesome! It sucks that Celski didn’t make it out of the semis, though. Definitely rooting for Apolo in the final!
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Kudos for keeping up on all the coverage–Completists are AMAZING!!!
I have been totally spoiled for next week and I don’t even care.
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hey, i didn’t see a link to these pictures as well: http://www.nbcolympics.com/photos/galleryid=432319.html?__source=msnhomepage&cid=
stephen meeting johnny weir, causing my heart to explode into millions of tiny pieces from the cuteness.
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Those are totally fantastic!
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D’oh! Yeah, I missed those. I edited the post. Thanks!
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Oh, those are fantastic! He looks so happy to be meeting him! :P
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Absolutely great pix! They’re both so cute.
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I see that Johnny Weir twittered about it, too:
http://twitter.com/JohnnyGWeir/status/8616477044
I hope he does send him an outfit to wear, that would be hilarious!
I read in one of these articles that Stephen’s flight to Vancouver was delayed by a day, and that he had planned to shoot all day on the 16th… how awesome would that have been, maybe he would have had time to hang out with more athletes.
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If anyone can manage to grab the NBC Mountie video and either upload it for downloading or put it on youtube or ANYTHING ELSE, I will sell you my first born child.
Seriously.
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Seconded!!
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THIRDED!!!
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I will if someone can find me the CTv interview with Colbert.
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I’m still shaking my fist at NBC. Thanks in advance if anyone manages to upload the videos on YouTube or anywhere else. :)
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Oh man, it’s been so hard to keep away from the spoilers this time around. I want some of the stuff from this weeks episodes to be a surprise. haha!
Although, i am insanely excited to get home tomorrow so i can watch the NBC stuff. I wish everyone had modded out their internet browsers so as to enable them to watch American videos in Canada. :( Not seeing Stephen as a mountie is KILLING ME! ITS SLOWLY KILLING ME!
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Priya – it’s not just blocking your IP address… it needs an identifiable US address to play. (Hulu works with a block, NBC does not). f’ve even tried US proxies and haven’t been able to access. If you know the secret, please let me know.
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Lame :( Yeah, i have this thing on my firefox that allows me to watch vids of CN and TDS website, but it won’t work for NBC. SO LAME. I’m hoping someone puts all of them on youtube. The first interview with Bob Costas where he climbs into the fire is up, now i’m just waiting for the rest.
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Try downloading a free VPN. I used UltraVPN and was able to watch the videos from Canada.
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My gosh—every team is doing their best to bump the USA. Ohno was cheap shotted, so was Katherine Reutter. It is now obvious that all the teams were working to take out the US speedskaters. Katherine and Apollo are Gold winners in my mind–they were both cheap shotted.
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Ann G., that was the BEST Zeitgeist post I have ever seen! So many juicy tidbits! Thank you so much for your tireless work. I can only imagine how much work it took to compile this Zeitgeist post after an already crazy-busy Vancouver week.
EVERYONE should check out that second post. Not only are there Vancouver pictures, but albums of Stephen from non-Vancouver events. Great quality pics. Here’s the link to the page for pictures of Stephen overall:
http://www.zimbio.com/Stephen+Colbert/pictures/pro
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Thanks for the lovely comment! I’m not gonna lie, it took me a pretty large chunk of the day yesterday to do this post because I kept stopping to read/watch/look at all the stuff I’d missed during the week. So it took forever, but I had a really great time doing it!
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Thanks for that link!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ghuqFxzto
Preparation for Stephen’s visit to the LGBTQ Centre in Vancouver. This should make for an excellent segment!
LOVELOVELOVE the Mountie uniform.
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What a great Zeitgeist, Ann G. Thanks for putting it all together for us. It has been a crazy week for all things Stephen, that’s for sure.
All the Completists rock!
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Great Zeitgeist! And oh, add me to the list that can’t see the vid Stephen in that drop dead handsome mountie uniform.
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That was a great Zeitgeist! Thanks so much!!!
Just in case others are still looking for the video of Stephen and Bob Costas to download from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFqcKMsm62k
I think the uploader will be ul-ing more things soon. Hopefully, the mountie vid will be up.
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Did Stephen record 2 entire episodes already or only portions of episodes?
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I don’t think anyone here knows—it appears that he did a full show with Costas—they took a time out for commercials. I think the Monday and Tuesday are full Canada shows and wed and thurs will be NY shows—btw, just a guess.
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No, i don’t think so. He did mostly just interviews while in Canada. So, I think what they did was they shot all the interviews and they played “Better Know a Riding” for us so they could get the laughs and what not for when they air it. Also: On thursday, when I went, Stephen was shooting a bunch of toss responses for when “Studio Stephen” is gonna go out to “Vancouver Stephen.” I’m pretty sure that everything that was shot is gonna be spread out over the week.
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I think I read in one of the articles that the set back in NY this week is supposed to be made to look like he’s still in Vancouver, even though he’s not, and that they will be doing tosses from “Studio Stephen” to “Vancouver Stephen.” But I’m not sure about all of it. I’m so excited for the shows this week! With all of the other spoilery stuff coming through the wire, massive kudos to Stephen and the TCR crew for managing to keep it a secret! :)
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Wow, so much thanks for all the postings!!
I can’t believe he found a Dutch band and got them to play on the stage! Now I can’t be sure because there was only a short piece of them, but I think they’re what we would call a “dweilorkest”, a “mopping band” for lack of a better translation, which is a kind of band that would play at skating competitions while the zambonis are on the ice (which we call “mopping the ice”, hence the term for the band). I think those types of bands also play during half time at soccer matches. Because we have no cheerleaders. :)
After this small (and probably useless) bit of education, I would like to add: How awesome is it that he asked those people to take a photo with him, because they weren’t allowed to ask him!
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