Four Horsemen of the Apopcalypse – Pop culture references in The Colbert Report: May 10-13, 2010

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!).

This week: Ancient Greece, bad Australian lager, Christian philosophy, and more.  Dig out your Aeschylus, and pop in a copy of Superman II, it’s time for the Apopcalypse!

Hey Zoners!  Can you see my tears from there?  A two-week break, the horror!  Actually, it’s well-earned, and I hope the entire staff is enjoying some downtime.  I’ve really appreciated the coverage of the gulf oil spill lately – it’s managed to put a bit of sugar coating on the otherwise very bitter pill that is the unfolding environmental disaster down there.  And the Oil Containment Solution Randomizer was just brilliant.  What were your favorite segments this week? Post them in the comments! (** = TCR/TDS link)

Monday: Greece Wither Soon

“Things are so dire they even laid off the Oracle of Delphi. She never saw it coming.”

And a collective groan rises from anyone who remembers a bit of high school history or literature.  For over a thousand years, Delphi was the site of the paramount oracle in ancient Greece – a portal through which the god Apollo was thought to prophesy.  The Delphi priestesses did eventually get their walking papers in AD 393 from emperor Theodysius I.

“They’re just a bunch of bouzouki playing souvlaki queens who expect the rest of us to foot the bill for their big fat weddings.”

Tuesday: Intro & Kagan Worship & Australian Sperm Shortage

“Can conservatives derail the nomination of Elaine Kagan, or are they just Borking up the wrong tree?”

Bork bork bork!  Poor Robert Bork – one failed Supreme Court nomination and you enter the lexicon as a synonym for the very process of figurative evisceration that led to your denial (see the Apopcalypse, May 5, 2009) -  not to mention your long shelf-life in the comedy world.

“Thank you Jor-El. I stole this from the set of Superman 2.”

Not to get all geeky on you, but when all those straws stuck in foam lit up, I immediately thought of the Fortress of Solitude, too.  That’s Superman’s secret headquarters, where he has a statue of his late Kryptonian father, Jor-El.  Or should we say **Stephen’s Kryptonian father?

“That’s not a sperm sample. This is a sperm sample… Formula 401: American for sperm.”

Love the fake Aussie accent, and the take on the old Foster’s Lager commercials: “That’s not beer. This is beer. Fosters – Australian for beer.” (couldn’t for the life of me find one of those online, though).  It’s just pandering to the Aussie market, though; **Stephen only drinks American beers (hilarious fake inebriation, and a drinking game I totally would have played in college).

Wednesday: Intro & Threat Down & Deepak Chopra

“Can the military overcome its problem recruiting young people?  Yes, if they invade fun places like Farmville.”

One of the more popular games (read: time-sucks) on Facebook, Farmville users plant and maintain virtual farms on their own pages, and those of their friends.

Periculodeorsumphobia: fear of the Threat Down.

Somebody on staff must feel their college Latin skills are being underutilized.  Periculo translates as “risk”, and deorsum as “down”.

“I have taken every dark part of me and I’ve stuffed it into a portrait I keep in my attic and it displays all the corruption of age and I stay young.”

I love how Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray keeps coming back in the show.  As described in a previous Apopcalypse (Nov 19, 2009), handsome but vain Dorian Gray makes a deal with the devil: he remains eternally young while his portrait ages, mirroring the corruption and disfigurement of his soul.

“Our soul is all lightness. It is not a duality. That is the Manichaean heresy that was driven out of the church by the Council of Nicea and you’re lucky this isn’t 1700 years ago or I will be burned at the stake, buddy.”

Heavy stuff.  Originating in Persia in the 3rd century AD, Manicheaism as a religion taught that the world is both good and evil.  Caught in a proxy war between God and Satan, the human soul is in an ever-shifting balance between light and dark.  This view was considered heretical by early Christians.  In 325, the First Council of Nicea was held in order to establish a uniform Christian doctrine, and quash heresies such as Manicheaism.  One product of the Council, the Nicene Creed, has **made its way onto the Report more than once.

Thursday: Intro

“Larry King got back together with his wife. I always knew she was the one of the ones.”

**Friend of the show Larry King (a really fun interview!) is well-known for his 50-plus years of broadcasting, 25 years as host of the interview program Larry King Live, and perhaps also for his Elizabeth Taylor-like marital troubles, with eight marriages to date.