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! It’s way too late here for a long intro, so I’ll just say “Mo Monet, Mo problems!” Lots of fun tidbits this week – what were your favorites? Post them in the comments! (** = TCR/TDS link)
Monday: Intro & America’s Strained Relations With England
“A new quest for Arctic riches: Nicholas Cage found a map on the wrapper of his Klondike Bar.”
Ok, they’re frivolous action flicks, but the National Treasure movies were fun frivolous action flicks. In the 2004 film, history buff and treasure hunting loon Benjamin Gates (played by Nicholas Cage) finds a secret map on the back of the original Declaration of Independence, which gives clues to the location of treasure hidden by America’s founding fathers. Hijinks, drama, and witty banter ensue. The comparison brings new meaning to the question “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?”
“All those bubbles confuse him, he thinks he’s on The Lawrence Welk show.”
Aired from 1951 to 1982 (and in sporadic reruns ever since), The Lawrence Welk Show was a musical variety program featuring tame (one might say bland) but quite popular mainstream entertainment. The show aimed to evoke a classy night out, including audience couples dancing during orchestra instrumentals, and an opener of champagne bubbles.
Tuesday: Carl Safina
“‘Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone?’ We have literally paved paradise.”
Ah, too bad Stephen didn’t decide to sing this quote. It’s from Joni Mitchell’s 1970 hit “Big Yellow Taxi” – probably the first musical expression of environmentalism I remember from childhood, and a great song to boot. Give it a listen, you’ll be humming it all week just like I have (albeit about 2 octaves lower than Joni Mitchell).
Wednesday: Intro & Obama’s BP Oil Spill Speech & Devo
“Tonight! A surprising find in Afghanistan. I hope it’s Carmen Sandiego”
That’s a cute reference to the children’s educational computer game series Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and its subsequent PBS Kids game show spinoff. But really I include it just as an excuse to link to the pre-Iraq Report segments, **Where in the World and When in Time is Stephen Colbert Going to Be in the Persian Gulf? (Cutest intro ever!) Or how about TDS’s Sweeps Week stunt: **Where in the World is Stephen Colbert?
“I haven’t seen that many people who hate each other in complete harmony since last summer’s Police reunion.”
Well, the reunion tour was actually 2007-2008, but time does fly. 30 years after the release of their first single, “Roxanne”, The Police reunited for a final world tour. A treat for fans, but perhaps somewhat of a surprise considering the legendary personal and musical strife within the band during its peak years.
Devo’s energy hats
Now for the oddest of this week’s references. Gerard Casele and Mark Mothersbaugh claimed that the shape of Devo’s trademark energy hats was inspired by Aztec architecture and Wilhelm Reich. Reich was an Austrian psychoanalyst and contemporary of Sigmund Freud, who came to believe in the existence of a cosmic energy he termed Orgone. Reich subsequently built treatment devices designed to concentrate this energy on patients – his “orgone chambers” or “orgone accumulators”. To my mind, the best part is that the idea of Orgone, though completely unsubstantiated and patently wacky, is still out there: witness this Orgone Pyramid TV commercial (so hilarious it must be parody, except that several commercial Orgone product sites present it as entirely serious).
Thursday: Obama’s Simplified BP Oil Spill Speech & David Mamet
Stephen brings complicated issues down to the 1st grade level, with takes on classic children’s books like the Dick and Jane early readers, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Goodnight Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are.
“My guest tonight is the playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross. If I nail him, Cadillac El Dorado. Second place – set of steak knives.”
A memorable quote from Mamet’s 1982 play about Chicago real estate brokers desperate to land a sale by any means. The play netted numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for Mamet, and was later adapted into a film starring Al Pacino and Alec Baldwin.
I always love these pop culture reference posts, so many interesting facts! Great job as usual. :)
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it’s glenn beck from the CN forum.
It’s all dark over there. :-(
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Glad you’re here, GB, pull up a chair and set a while …
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ITA with you, wren -I wish Stephen had sung the lines from Big Yellow Taxi too, just because it’s truly the first song I remember from the radio (when I was 4 or 5) that wasn’t a nursery rhyme. When Stephen said the lines I just grinned from ear to ear -and good reference too.
And the simplified oil speech? Priceless!
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The Simplified BP Oil Spill Speech was brilliant. And I really loved the Carmen Sandiego reference, since I used to play the game and watch the show when I was a kid.
Thanks for the background info on Devo’s energy hats, wren!
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