Archive for Mainstream Media
E&P: Scotty has a bad day (Spoilers)
Posted by: | CommentsThe Episode Guide for Monday’s show is ‘in progress’, but Editor & Publisher was quick on the mark with quotes from ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘The Colbert Report’ about Scott McClellan:
Scott McClellan Does Comedy Central — Colbert Explores ‘Media Culpa’
Scott McClellan guested on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart on Monday night, but the best lines of the night came a few minutes later from Stephen Colbert.
He opened his “Colbert Report” by asking why McClellan was so upset that reporters were not doing their jobs in the run-up to the Iraq war. “What is McClellan complaining about?” he asked. “They were doing HIS job!”
…
A few hours before that, McClellan endured getting shouted at by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News for allegedly helping those who hate America.
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The Telegraph introduces the UK to ‘The Colbert Report’
Posted by: | CommentsFinally! The Telegraph introduces Great Britain’s audience to Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report with the thorough overview both man and show deserve.
From The Telegraph:
Stephen Colbert: the second most powerful idiot in America
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 18/05/2008His attacks on greens, pinkos and people who want to destroy Christmas have won him friends across the States – and enemies in the White House. Meet Stephen Colbert, host of a satirical news show that tells it like it is – sort of.
By Steven Daly
. . .The Colbert Report is news parody of the first order. The show’s titular host offers a funhouse-mirror reflection of the bellicose Right-wing opinionisers of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News channel (among others) who dominate and dictate the political discourse in the States with lengthy and obnoxious opinion-slots that are somehow passed off as ‘news’. Since this particular day happens to be Earth Day, it is Stephen Colbert’s duty – his patriotic duty – to belittle the event in a similar manner. Colbert’s production staff discuss the practicalities of giving the host a little balloon globe to wave at the end of a stick as he rants against America’s tree-hugging contingent.
Upstairs, past various ludicrous portraits of Stephen Colbert – including an oil painting of him as Napoleon on a rearing white steed – the boss-man sits behind his desk under a framed poster for Richard Nixon’s 1972 election campaign. The host of The Colbert Report (both words pronounced à la Français) is thrilled that he got show guest George McGovern, Nixon’s defeated opponent, to sign the poster. ‘I’ve always been a news junkie,’ says Colbert, 44, whose formative memories include after-school television programmes such as The Munsters being interrupted by the Watergate hearings.
It’s mildly disconcerting to find America’s favourite faux-conservative dressed not in his trademark preppy Brooks Brothers armour, but in black T-shirt, black shorts and Hi-Tec trainers. Colbert has just driven in from his home in suburban New Jersey, where he dropped the kids off at school (he has three) before doing a session at his local gym. Still, even in his baggy gym gear, he somehow maintains the immovable Republican hair that makes him so perfect for his strident on-screen role …
I highly recommend that you go read this (three-page!) article now; it’s filled with fabulous Stephen quotes about the show, his guests and all sorts of related goodies. Enjoy!
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Paul Helmke talks about filming with Stephen Colbert
Posted by: | CommentsHurrah for Fort Wayne’s News-Sentinel! They’ve posted an article with some amusing anecdotes from the filming of Paul Helmke’s “Better Know a Lobbyist: Gun Control Lobby” segment, complete with some unused questions from the taping.
Helmke takes on comedy pundit
Former mayor talks about gun control on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”
By Evan Goodenow
of The News-SentinelSecond Amendment. Great amendment or best amendment ever?
That question never made the final cut of Paul Helmke’s Tuesday night interview on “The Colbert Report,” but the former Fort Wayne mayor and president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence had plenty to answer in a nearly two-hour session that was edited into a six-and-a-half minute segment. Stephen Colbert, the lefty provocateur on the Comedy Central network whose shtick is posing as a pompous Bill O’Reilly wannabe, playfully ridiculed Helmke’s beliefs in imposing more gun regulation and restrictions.
. . .
Much of the interview – the latest in the 35,000-part Better Know A Lobby series – didn’t air. Cuts included speculation on whether President Kennedy would have been assassinated if a machine gun had been mounted on the Lincoln Continental he rode in Dallas. Also scrapped was discussion of what The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a metaphor for and a re-enactment of the Aaron Burr-Alexander Hamilton duel featuring Nerf guns and Velcro vests.
. . .
Helmke said he considered whether he might be trivializing a serious subject by going on the show, but his concerns were outweighed by the chance to deliver his message to a younger audience that doesn’t always get news from mainstream media.
. . .
Oh, and what about the Second Amendment question – great or best amendment ever? Helmke answered neither. Colbert said he would mark it down as best.
Good to hear the Helmke was pleased by the result; I thought the final segment did a great job of highlighting issues important to gun control advocates.
Dare we hope that Comedy Central might post some of this unused footage at some point? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, here’s the finished segment once again: Better Know a Lobby – Gun Control
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More from the MTV Networks “upfront”
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Hollywood Reporter:
MTV Nets: We’ve got connections
Celebrates relationships at its upfront presentation
May 8, 2008, 07:38 PM
After a year of upfront presentation silence, MTV Networks rocked the house with a celebration of its connection to its audiences and advertisers.
. . .
Colbert and Stewart riffed on the commercial partnerships, with Colbert coming out with a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and integrating it into their bit.
Stewart opened the show’s remarks, saying that he didn’t think upfront presentations like this were done anymore. “I thought that was the point of the writers strike … so we didn’t have to do this s#!t anymore,” he quipped.
Stewart and Colbert poked fun at the advertisers, thanking them for their mini-operas (30-second spots) “extolling products both needless and unwanted.” Stewart noted that their two talk shows on Comedy Central score well in adults 18-34.
“They trust us, and I think you can exploit that,” he said.
. . .
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New York Times asks: should politicians also be funny?
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The New York Times delves into the often treaded waters of Politician As Entertainer with their latest article, and they have a special focus on the Philadelphia shows from last week.
Politicians as Comics: A Sideshow on Pop TV
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: April 22, 2008…
Michelle Obama, who last week stood up for her husband’s common touch on “The Colbert Report,” tried to prove it by taping a segment of “Rachael Ray” alongside Barack Obama on Monday. The episode is expected to run in May.
Hillary Rodham Clinton performed a self-mocking skit on “The Colbert Report” last week (not to be confused with her self-mocking skit on “Saturday Night Live,” on March 1) and agreed to appear on “Larry King Live” on CNN on Monday night. Mr. Obama accepted a seat, for the third time, on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.”
The novelty of politicians showing their lighter side on national television has begun to weigh heavily on the campaign season. The surprise lies not in who does which show, but who doesn’t do them at all, and at this point only the pope has held out.
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Hillary Clinton, on her ‘Colbert Report’ appearance
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Just a few words from Senator Clinton, from People’s “Monsters and Critics”:
Hillary Clinton talks about the road to Pennsylvania
By M&C People Apr 21, 2008, 3:26 GMT. . .
Clinton spoke of her appearance on “The Colbert Report.” “It was fun…When you’re in a serious campaign, you’re talking about what you’re doing for the economy and Iraq. It’s usually pretty sober so it’s fun to take a break and do something silly and that was for me, a lot of laughs.”
Clinton told Extra that even though John Edwards was backstage, there was no political talk, she explained, “We just caught up with each other. I’ve known John for a long time..He looks great. Elizabeth [Edwards, wife] is doing well.”
. . .
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The New York Times reviews Michelle Obama’s visit to ‘The Colbert Report’
Posted by: | CommentsFrom The New York Times:
Michelle Obama Charms Colbert
By Ariel Alexovich
Michelle Obama with Stephen Colbert in Philadelphia on Tuesday. (Photo: Matt Rourke/Associated Press)Stephen Colbert doesn’t let any of his guests on “The Colbert Report” off the hook, and he took no exception when Michelle Obama came on his show Tuesday night.
“Everybody knows you and your husband are elitists,” Mr. Colbert said right off the bat. “Tell me about your elite upbringing on the South Side of Chicago. How many silver spoons in your mouth?”
“We had four spoons,” deadpanned Mrs. Obama during her late night talk show debut.
She added: “And then my father got a raise at the plant, and we had five spoons.”
“That sounds posh,” replied Mr. Colbert.
And he continued to flatter the potential first lady at nearly every opportunity.
“You’re a very good-looking lady,” he said, comparing her style to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. (And, we have to say, Mrs. Obama was looking rather chic in a bright blue sleeveless boatneck dress.)
Mrs. Obama, though, did not return the compliments. After imploring Mr. Colbert to serenade her (to make her husband “a little jealous”) — which he obliged, crooning “L is for the way you look at me” — Mrs. Obama said her husband “has a better voice.”
. . .
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SPOILER ALERT: TIME reports some of Stephen Colbert’s lines with Michelle Obama
Posted by: | CommentsYa know, I would have enjoyed a “spoiler” tag of some sort on this TIME Magazine post, but …
I’ll give you the option of whether to read the rest behind the cut, or click this link to read it at TIME.
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