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’m just back from a family camping trip in the Adirondacks. The kids had fun catching crayfish, minnows, & toads, and my son acquired a pet millipede. As for me, I am fully sun-soaked, waterlogged, and wood-smoked. Send me back! We’ve got a short week to cover in this Apopcalypse – let’s get to it! What references tickled your funny bone? Share them in the comments! (** = TCR/TDS link)
Tuesday: Intro
“Van Halen will release a new album with David Lee Roth. At their age, Hot for Teacher is now creepy from the other side.”
Eww, good point there. In 1984, Van Halen caught some slack from uptight groups like Tipper Gore’s PMRC (remember them?) for their video “Hot for Teacher”, which depicted a sexy teacher stripping for a class of cheering schoolchildren. The PMRC is gone, though their Parental Advisory stickers are still with us, and “Hot for Teacher” is now on VH1 Classics.
Wednesday: Moral Compass 5000 Action Center & Current Events
“If she wanted to go someplace Spanish, she should have vacationed in the parking lot of a Home Depot.”
In recent years, many home improvement box stores like Home Depot have become gathering places for day laborers seeking work from contractors and homeowners. Communities across the country have debated how to deal with the problem, some calling for crackdowns on illegal immigrants, others for shelters and sanitary facilities.
“Holding 50,000 volts in my hand makes me feel like Zeus. And if I remember my Greek mythology correctly, nothing can go wrong when man considers himself equal to the gods.”
Sure, nothing can go wrong. Except that in the mythological Silver Age, Zeus destroyed humans because they refused to worship the gods.
Thursday: Happy Ramadan & The Wørd: Weapon of Mass Construction
“Ramadan commemorates the month in which the angel Gabriel first revealed the Quran to the Prophet Muhammed, I’m guessing not in cartoon form.”
We’ve featured the Danish cartoon controversy in a previous Apopcalypse (11/2/2009). Stephen himself gave a great explanation of the situation in the early days of the Report (**The Wørd – Kidding). Watch it for the analysis of comedy status shifts, and be thankful that phase of the character’s hair was short-lived.
“It’s a slapping eyestab. Something they learned from Al-Quaeda operative Moe-hammed al-Stooge.”
I thought that was a hilarious line, but the audience seemed surprisingly lukewarm on the joke. That is, at least until Stephen broke out his Three Stooges impressions. Ha! As a treat, here are some of my other favorite impressions Stephen’s done over the years: marble-mouthed **Tom Brokaw, a fine **Gregory Peck, the classic **Geraldo Rivera, and the quadruple bonus impression – Jimmy Stewart, Wilford Brimley, Robert DeNiro, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, in **Formula 401 – A Star is Born.
Hey! Glad you (& the Apopcalypse) are back, wren!
I’m with you on the Moe-hammed al-Stooge line. But I’m a guy. So I’m helpless at the slightest mention of Three Stooges. :)
Which reminds me, back in the early 80′s when Jay Leno was actually funny, (No, kids, really! It’s true. I swear!) He had a bit about men and women. And the differences in who & what they most valued and admired. It had one line that I’ve always remembered, “…On the other hand you ask guys to list the important historical figures they most admire and they’ll say, “Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, Moe.” ;)
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When Stephen made the Muhammed cartoon joke, I actually immediately thought of South Park instead of the Danish story. Shows where my head is at. ;)
I loved Stephen’s Three Stooges impressions! And thanks for the extra video clips wren! Stephen sure does a mean Wilford Brimley. Oh, and double thanks for using the word ‘crayfish,’ for two reasons: (1) It brought back memories of when I used to catch crayfish as a kid and (2) When I was in Louisiana a couple of years ago, a friend of mine (who was from Kentucky) gave me crap for calling them crayfish, since they’re called crawfish in the South. Apparently here in the North, our crayfish are grayish brown and disgusting, and Southern crawfish are red and delicious. Who knew. :P
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Welcome home, Wren! Great post, as always. And thanks for the favorite impression links. The last one had me ROFL – it seems soooo wrong that any Formula 401segment has this effect on me!
BTW – if my TCR History serves me right, his hair had extra ‘product’ during the episode with “The Word – Kidding” because they had done the taping of the music video “Charlene” earlier that day.
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Sooo wrong, but sooo funny. I have the same reaction to the Formula 401s, especially any time he makes a crack about how they were “produced”. “How do we get our prices so low? Volume!” ;)
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I loved the “Moe-hammad al-Stooge” line, I thought it was hilarious! But yeah, the audience didn’t appreciate it as much as I did. The Three Stooges impressions, on the other hand… eh, must be a guy thing. I actually can’t stand the Three Stooges.
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