Greetings, Zoners, and happy President’s Day! I hope most of you are having a relaxing day off. Everyone’s been watching the Olympics, right? I’ve been enjoying them a lot so far, and since the Colbert Nation is sponsoring the U.S. speedskating team, I’m much more excited about these games than I was the last time around. This is going to be a tough week for watching TV, with the Olympics on every night, and then Stephen competing against himself on Wednesday with his appearance on NBC and the next episode of Faces of America airing at the same time. I think the Olympics will win out, and I’ll just have to watch Faces of America online the next day. There’s been a lot going on in the newsoblogosphere, so it’s time to catch up on some Colbert news items. Today we have a few articles related to the Olympics, more on Faces of America, a final word on the Grammys, and a few odds and ends.

Vancouver ‘010

• Speedskating’s Olympic Rewards Fail to Pay the Bills – New York Times – This article discussing the financial difficulties that Olympic speedskaters often face gives some real perspective on just how much it meant to them to have Stephen step in with the Colbert Nation sponsorship: “[Stephen Colbert] said he could relate to the speedskaters’ circumstances. ‘Believe me, I spent 20 years racking up huge debts pursuing comedy,’ Colbert wrote in an e-mail message… With the exception of Davis, who initially took umbrage with Colbert’s barbs at Canadians, speedskaters have seemed delighted to have Colbert in their corner. They are grateful for the spotlight he has trained on their sport, and for a subsequent deal U.S. Speedskating signed with Verizon Wireless, a sponsor of Colbert’s show.”
• Stephen Colbert has a rapport with the games – Los Angeles Times – “Stephen Colbert, whose deadpan punditry on Comedy Central has become a force of nature, has an honest appreciation for speedskating. No joke… But he is truly intrigued by curling too… This fascination with speedskating and curling, Colbert said, is evidence of his abiding love of the Winter Games. ‘Maybe because you can comprehend the scope of the Winter Games,’ he said. ‘The summer is so enormous, but in the winter you have a pretty good shot of following everything.’”
• Olympic Parents – NBC15.com (Madison, Wisconsin) – A brief article about Tucker Fredricks’ parents: “Not too long ago, it was Tucker’s mom Shawn that was in the spotlight. She wasn’t going for gold, but she was taking on Stephen Colbert… She says, ‘I was so nervous that my legs were kind of shaking. The adrenaline was pumping.’ Shawn didn’t get a medal for her victory. But Dan says it was still great watching her beat Colbert.”
• Dosanjh to appear on Canadian taping of Colbert Report – CTV News British Columbia – “Vancouver Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh is going to be a guest on Stephen Colbert’s comedy show later this month as part of Colbert’s coverage of the Olympics. Dosanjh will appear in a segment called ‘Better Know a Riding,’ based on Colbert’s interviews with American politicians from different constituencies.”

Faces of America

• ‘Faces of America’ reveals family ties – Los Angeles Times – There’s nothing specifically about Stephen in this article, but it gives some fascinating background on the Faces of America series, and it includes a nice picture of Stephen with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
• ‘Faces of America’ with Henry Louis Gates Jr. – NY Daily News – A review of the series, with another picture of Stephen and Professor Gates.
• Stephen Colbert’s truthiness: we Irish hate the English – IrishCentral.com – “Colbert and Gates talked about the effect of British colonialism in Ireland, with Colbert saying that the Irish in America will never forget the British driving their ancestors off their land. ‘Part of being Irish even to this day is not liking the English,’ said Colbert with a laugh. ‘Absolutely no doubt.’

Grammy Awards

• GRAMMY Camp Journalist Nick Arnold – Grammy Week Review – This is pretty cool: a blog by a fifteen-year-old high school journalist who spoke to Stephen during the rehearsal for the awards show and was called on to ask a question in the media room after Stephen won his Grammy. If you scroll down and read his entry for Saturday, January 20, you’ll get the details of the story. His entry for Sunday includes his question for Stephen and the answer: “…Stephen Colbert remembered having met me, so after he won and came back stage and called on me, I asked him if he had been influenced at all by fellow comedy nominees Spinal Tap and Weird Al. He answered, ‘Yeah, sure, absolutely. I’ve listened to them for years. I’ve been listening to Spinal Tap for 25 years. I think March 2 is the anniversary. I’m a little bit of a fan.’”

Random acts of news

• 10 Best New York City TV Shows to Be an Audience Member – NYC10BEST.com – #8. The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert: The hardest show to get tickets right now. (TDS also made the list at #3.)
• Note to politicians: Colbert always gets the last laugh – NJ.com – “…[Harold] Ford’s communication skills were seriously tested on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report last week. Stephen Colbert has been making professionals of all stripes look bad for years… Consider that Colbert is playing a character, but the character actually has impressive research and relevant facts to back up his questions, follow-ups and quips. Colbert is a comedian and writer who is playing a TV talker who’s a lot better informed than most people who do it for real.”
• Will Jerry Seinfeld’s New Reality Show Live Up to the Hype? – Gather.com – Jerry Seinfeld’s wish list of “refs” for his new reality show, The Marriage Ref, includes both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. If he can persuade them to appear, especially on the same episode, I might watch it. Otherwise… eh, probably not.

And finally…

Proof that the Colbert Nation is in the house to watch speedskating! (Via ESPN.com)

• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – March 13, 2010
• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – March 3, 2010
• Please don’t sue us – An open letter to Tony Fox, PR rep for Viacom
• Eye Candy: Stephen Colbert at Christ Child Society’s Great Gatsby Gala