Four Horsemen of the Apopcalypse – Pop culture references in The Colbert Report: March 1-4, 2010

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!   I loved loved loved they Olympics coverage, but I admit I’m happy to get back to regular shows, too.  This week’s Apopcalypse ranges from Greek Classics to the latest fad in rickrolling, with an extended stay in U.S. Presidential history.  If you’re in the mood for music, spend some time with Monday’s links – there are some real gems in there.  What did you enjoy most this week, back on American soil? (** = TCR/TDS link)

Monday: Olympics Wrap-Up – Michael Buble

“Is there a Great Canadian Songbook?…Sure, you got the Chickety China the Chinese Chicken song. You got Safety Dance and Sunglasses at Night.”

Hey, a Great Canadian Songbook?  Tune up your ears and let’s get nostalgic.  We’ll start with Barenaked Ladies (the fab Ontario-based band), and their 1998 song “One Week”, a rapid, silly stream-of-consciousness song, including such lyrical oddities as “Chickity China the Chinese Chicken”.  And if you remember 80′s pop music, you’ll know Montreal’s Men Without Hats and “The Safety Dance” (with its inexplicably Ren-Faire themed video).  Another Montreal native, the ubercool Corey Hart, was top of the charts in the early 1980′s with hits like “Sunglasses at Night”.  Canada’s not all froth and New Wave pop, though. As Michael Buble pointed out, Canada’s also given us Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and k.d. lang.

“We have a scene here with you and Wesley Snipes. Is Wesley Snipes a vampire?”

In one of his trademark Seriously Pumped roles, Wesley Snipes played Blade in the eponymous action flick trilogy. The films are based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, a human-vampire hybrid (ok, technically a dhampir) who protects the human race by hunting vampires. Take that, Team Edward!

Tuesday:  President Obama’s First Physical & David Brooks

“We have ignored all the warning signs. Beer summit?  Hello! Clearly he insulted that cop just for the excuse to pound a sixer of Old Milwaukee tall boys.”

We’ve featured the infamous White House Beer Summit previously on the Apopcalypse, focusing on the arrest of Harvard Professor (and **friend of the show) Henry Louis Gates Jr. outside his own home, and the ensuing ruckus. But President Obama, perhaps incautiously, added fuel to the fire by saying the police “acted stupidly” in the matter.  It took 40 oz of lager and some well-staged handshakes for all involved to move past that one.

Brooks: “There’s actually like kind of tradition in American life, it started with Alexander Hamilton… go through Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt” Stephen: “Things did not end well for him.” Brooks: “For any of those guys”

Time for a brief review of famous Republicans and their fiscal policies.  As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton (star of the $10 bill) organized much of the federal financial system, including creating the U.S. Mint and the first national bank. 16th President Abraham Lincoln instituted the first U.S. income tax, created a system of national banks, and established the first national paper currency since the Revolutionary War.  26th President Theodore Roosevelt moved to limit the influence of corporate interests on government, and regulate monopolies.  But as noted, things did not end well for those gentlemen: Hamilton died in 1804 after a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr (and you think politics today is partisan!), Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and Teddy Roosevelt, well, he survived an assassination attempt, and died of an unrelated illness at age 60.

Wednesday: Jim Bunning Ends Filibuster &  Greece’s Economic Downfall – Scheherezade Rehman

Curious about that catchy, yet somehow disturbing, “Trololololo” clip that so cheered Stephen?  It’s Soviet vocalist Edward Hill, badly lipsynching to one of his popular recordings.  With the meme spreading like wildfire, it may be poised to become the next rickroll.  (h/t Jennie)

“A modern greek drama. Which means not only is the country’s economy failing, it’s probably banging its mother.”

Oedipus, mythical king of Thebes, cursed by a prophecy he ultimately fulfilled. In his attempt to evade his fate, Oedipus unwittingly kills his father, marries his mother, and gouges his eyes out when he learns the horrible truth.  Need a refresher, but not ready to dive back into Sophocles?  Try Oedipus, performed by vegetables.  (Really!)

“Somehow Goldman created, let’s say, a hollow horse into which all of Greece’s debt was put. And somehow convinced the Europeans to open the gate to their financial fortress, and pushed all that debt into Europe. Is that the first time that’s been done by the Greeks?”

Love the extended metaphor to Virgil’s Aeneid, and the Trojan Horse. Stephen was up on his Classics today, I think.

Rehman: “In the words of Zorba the Greek, ‘only if there’s a catastrophe’ – or a natural disaster, can they give money to a country.”

I’d call that a somewhat liberal paraphrasing – In the 1964 film, Zorba the Greek actually says “Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man. So I married. Wife, children, everything – the full catastrophe”

Thursday: Iraqracy

“Remember, in our last election, John Edwards certainly wasn’t shooting blanks.”

**Friend of the show, former presidential candidate, and apologetic **adulterer John Edwards has recently admitted to fathering a child with his mistress Rielle Hunter, during his campaign (and during his wife’s cancer treatment).