Archive for Videos
I knew that as soon as we posted a spoiler about Stephen Colbert singing “Rocky Road to Dublin” that it would be high on the wish list for Vancouverage coverage. While it wasn’t shown online, Comedy Central just released a video of Stephen’s rendition of the song at the Ireland House during his week in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics, and I know that you guys are just going to love this!
Also, if you want to put it on your iPod or Zune (?!), Iazzy was kind enough to send us an MP3 of the song.
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Daily Show Toss Recap – Klassic
Posted by: | CommentsBefore we go, let’s check in with our good friend Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report…
Happy weekend, Zoners! Oh, I was so hoping we’d get a new Toss this week; I was holding out great hopes for Thursday’s show. Alas, no luck this week. So let’s go to the vault! Here’s a great one from 2006:
6/15/2006: Daily/Colbert – Mad Magazine: Stephen points out Mad Magazine’s lampooning of the Daily Show, but takes issue with their blasting his meaningless non-sequiturs.
Does anyone have this issue of Mad Magazine? I haven’t read that magazine since I was a kid (in fact, I’m surprised to learn they were still publishing it as recently as 2006, and indeed that it’s still being published on a quarterly basis). I love this Toss because it’s so meta, referencing a Toss within a Toss, and then parodying a parody of itself. My mind nearly folds into itself just describing it. Yahtzee! What do you all think of this Klassic?
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Because you know you’ve been singing this all day
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes I post things just for me. This is one of those times.
My partner in crime, MsInterpreted, found the full-length video of the snippet that they showed last night of that silly Trolalalalala song. It’s had over 700,000 views, so I’m guessing it’s some sort of viral video that I simply hadn’t seen yet. It makes me laugh so very hard.
The thing that I love most about this song is no matter what your native language, you can sing along!
EDIT:
Also, if anyone knows how to gank audio from a YouTube video, I would love love LOVE this to be my new ringtone.
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Reasons why it sucks that Hulu is dropping Comedy Central programming
Posted by: | Comments
For those of us who primarily watch the ‘Colbert Report’ and the ‘Daily Show’ on Hulu, today is a sad day. Hulu’s Senior VP of Content and Distrubution, Andy Forssell, made an announcement on the Hulu blog that as of next Tuesday, March 9, Hulu will not be carrying any Comedy Central shows. Now, granted, people in the US can continue to watch both clips and full versions of shows on ColbertNation.com and TheDailyShow.com. But for months now, virtually the only whole shows that I would watch of the ‘Colbert Report’ were on Hulu. And I have to be honest – I’m a bit peeved about this decision.
But why, you may ask, would this rub me the wrong way so much if I have access to the show via the official sites? Well, let me tell you. Are my reasons selfish? You betcha. Am I being whiny? Yeah, probably. But I got something to say! Which leads me to my first reason …
1) No more free ‘Strangers With Candy’
On occasion, I want to do a screencap of ‘Strangers With Candy’ for the site, or maybe just sit down and have a mini-marathon of some of my favorite SWC episodes. Now, I have the DVD’s, but sometimes, it’s nice to just be able to watch the shows on the computer. Plus it also allowed us to embed relevant clips here on No Fact Zone as the need would arise. Well, we can say goodbye to the pole and the hole … no more full episodes of one of my very favorite Stephen Colbert projects.
2) The viewing experience is smoother and the ads more relevant on Hulu than on ColbertNation.com
Trust me when I say I have watched a lot of videos, both full episodes and segment clips, on Hulu and ColbertNation.com. And I choose Hulu 95% of the time. The only time I ever watch full episodes on ColbertNation.com is when I want a particularly large screencap. The main reason for this is the ads.
Now, I’m not adverse to ads. People have to pay the bills, and I can respect that. But Hulu gives me multiple options for viewing ads, and once I’ve seen an ad for a particular segment of the show, I can watch that segment repeatedly without being bombarded with ads. Each break comes with a different ad, and sometimes I am even given the option of watching a full 2 minute ad and then the entire show is ad free. This is an excellent opportunity, and I really like it when the ads are movies because I actually enjoy watching the trailers.
With Comedy Central.com, I have to watch 3-4 ads before I can watch any part of the show. But let’s say I want to skip to the interview. I am forced to watch 2 minutes of ads, and often it’s the same ad over and over and over and over and over, before I ever get to any content. If I decide to rewind and go from the third section to the first, I have to watch another ad, and sometimes even two. The pause feature isn’t nearly as smooth, and it’s just a much more frustrating experience.
I know I might be an exception to how a normal user might use the site. I think I can safely say that when it comes to the ColbertNation.com videos, I’m a bit of a power user. But if I’m having this much trouble, surely others who watch the video are having the same issues.
3) Hulu gives the option of embedding only a small segment of a video.
I absolutely LOVE this feature! If I want to embed a part of the show – say, a musical number, or a snippet of dialogue – Hulu allows me to pick the exact snippet of the full episode that I want to embed, and put parameters in the code to install the code. I can also designate what size I want the Hulu video to be through a simple HTML adjustment, to best fit within the parameters of the body of the blog (although the default 512px width is a good size anyway). With the ColbertNation.com videos, I cannot embed the whole episode, and the sections of the show only allow a certain parameter of viewing experience – it tells you the size of the segment, the frame (with ads for other Comedy Central projects), and another aspect of Comedy Central videos that I simply cannot stand …
4) ColbertNation.com embed code screws up my LiveJournal feed.
About 10% of my syndicated site readers are LiveJournal users. Many of what I would call the Power User Zoners read the site via LiveJournal. But when the RSS feed syndicates code from an official Comedy Central video, LiveJournal simply cannot read the code. The Hulu video embeds lovely in any RSS feed or browser where it appears.
5) This is going to totally hose my morning schedule.
I warned you at the beginning of this post that my reasons were selfish, so let me spell this out a bit clearer. Hulu posts their videos of the ‘Colbert Report’ right around 5:45a CST or so. ColbertNation.com posts their full episode HD video around 7:30a CST. I normally start my episode guide by 6:20a so that I can have it done by 7:30a so I can get ready for work. And considering I spend over an hour a day typing and talking about and analyzing every episode of the show, I tend to only watch it once. So my options are: a) watch it on my TiVo, in standard def, and type the guide every morning on my netbook, or b) wait until CN.com posts the videos so that I can do the typing and editing on my Mac, but risk running late for work every day.
So, yes, this makes me cranky. We work darn hard around here to do the best that we can do and still have a little bit of a life away from the computer. I’ve had a very nice, smooth morning schedule for months after I started using Hulu as my primary source for shows. Also, I can watch the show in HD from Hulu on my shiny new iMac screen. But now? Phhhtt.
Thanks for listening to me rant. How many of you watch the shows on Hulu? And how will you be watching the shows now?
And, while you can, let’s pour a forty of Formula 401 on the ground to honor the death of ‘Colbert Report’ Hulu videos.
h/t to my old friend vdovault as well as MrTigger and Roland
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Olympic “Out”-take: Stephen Colbert at the Pride House
Posted by: | CommentsAs careful readers probably noticed, there were a number of things that were taped but ultimately cut from Stephen’s “Vancouverage” last week. It’s hard to complain, considering the great week of “Quadrennial Cold Weather Athletic Competition” shows, but it’s certainly true that a lot of fantastic footage went unused.
For example, friend of “the gays” Stephen Colbert stopped by the Pride House during his visits to various national houses and pavillions, but the footage wasn’t included in the final shows. We understand that at least some of this will show up on ColbertNation.com eventually but, until then, here are some highlights from that excellent visit (via OutQ):
(h/t Ann G!)
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Daily Show Toss Recap – Klassic
Posted by: | CommentsBefore we go, let’s check in with our good friend Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report…
Greetings, Zoners! I hope everyone has enjoyed this week’s Vancouverage as much as I have. I’ve never found myself enjoying the Olympics this much; as a member of the Colbert Nation and a (tiny) contributor to the US Speedskating team, I feel like I actually have a stake in the games for a change. Of course, with Stephen’s special coverage of the games, we didn’t get a Toss this week. But never fear, there’s always plenty more on The Daily Show’s website. Today, as we dig into the archives, we find Stephen rocking out to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.”
1/30/2007, Daily/Colbert – Tyson: Neil deGrasse Tyson gave Stephen two free tickets to Laser Floyd.
I adore that screen capture.
I’m with Jon; I wish they’d kept the cameras rolling to see how long Stephen would go! I’m sure he would have done the whole song. Since Friend of the Show Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s PBS special The Pluto Files begins next week (premiere is Tuesday, March 2nd), I thought this might be an apt time to give it another quick little plug.
Incidentally, for the full effect of the “Laser Floyd” reference, be sure to also watch Jon’s Intro for that night. For the uninitiated, the Hayden Planetarium is home to the big time laser show that all the kids in the Tri-State area head to, also referenced in Fountains of Wayne’s excellent song “Laser Show.” In high school, I had a lot of friends who spent a lot of time at Laser Floyd. As a nerdygirl, this is a Toss that’s near and dear to my heart.
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Ujjal Dosanjh: Stephen Colbert’s message “worth reflecting on”
Posted by: | CommentsThat “Better Know a Riding” on last night’s Colbert Report was wild! I’ve noticed a few comments around the ‘net this morning that said “Stephen” was being particularly … over the top, and it’s certainly true that Ujjal Dosanjh experienced the character in all its bombastic and ignorant glory last night. But never fear, he was always in on the joke. Today’s Vancouver Sun features the MP’s thoughts about the experience, and you really couldn’t ask for a better it-getting response:
The truthiness about Colbert, according to Ujjal Dosanjh
He’s a satirist, not an insult comedian, and his message is worth reflecting on
By Ujjal Dosanjh, Special To The Sun February 23, 2010 9:05 AM. . .
Some would find it strange that Canadians would flock to cheer along an American who had been waving his flag in our faces for months. But Canadians should know that the real Stephen Colbert is not the man we see on our TV screens, but instead a man who wants to see the backward character he plays disabused of the very ignorance he represents. It’s a kind of brilliant new sarcastic satire that Canada could use much more of — taking on our politics and culture in a way that largely discards political correctness on its way to the truth, or “truthiness” as Colbert would call it.
. . .
It’s been a wild ride. After his producers contacted my staff in October, I sat down with Stephen in Washington, D.C. a month ago to tape what would turn out to be one of his longest-ever interviews: an hour and 45 minutes, all for what became a seven-minute segment. Few interviewers are as tough as Stephen Colbert, but keeping a straight face was almost as tough as Stephen’s questions as we bantered back and forth on subjects ranging from gay rights to gun control and health care to the Canadian identity. It was a thorough back-and-forth on some of the issues that most differentiate the United States from Canada. Through the lens of Colbert’s satire, it is my hope that many more Americans will begin to take an interest in our values and experiences as Canadians.
. . .
It’s so cool that Mr. Dosanjh took the time to write such a complimentary article; I’m glad he understood Stephen’s brand of humor so well (it would have been a shame if he’d misunderstood Stephen the way the very cool Barney Frank did).
Here’s the Better Know a Riding segment, if you missed it (the intro segment is here):
EDITED TO ADD: There’s a little more on the taping and Mr. Dosanjh’s reaction to the final interview here. I loved the part where he talked about Stephen shouting that he was the white MLK and Ujjal just broke into laughter!
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‘The Pluto Files’: Anchors, pundits defend Pluto’s planetary status
Posted by: | CommentsWith all the chatter here about Stephen’s appearances at the Olympics and on Faces of America, it’s easy to overlook the approaching air date of The Pluto Files, where our favorite fundit defends that poor, downgraded celestial body. Happily for us, the good people at NOVA continue to release teaser vids:
NOVA | The Pluto Files with Neil deGrasse Tyson: What does Pluto’s demotion mean to Americans?
NOVA | The Pluto Files with Neil deGrasse Tyson: If Pluto is Not a Planet
This is going to be great! I read The Pluto Files on my commute last year, and it was interesting and very funny — just like Stephen and others involved in this production. (I mean, c’mon, a book that includes hate mail from elementary school children AND quotes Jonathan Coulton’s “I’m Your Moon” has to be awesome, right?) I fully expect the TV show to be every bit as brilliant.
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