Sarcasm and Wit: Stephen Colbert
 

I cant believe I cant find mention of this performance of Colbert at the Washington press dinner. If you havent watched the video, it is noteworthy. I think its amazing, funny and important. Its cuts to the bone. Its too real.

Thought I should post a link, cause I cant see the major news outlets wanting to draw too much attention to their skewering. If you appreciate sharp sarcasm and steely delivery...enjoy.

http://thankyoustephencolbert.org/

It was great. It started with a bit recyled from his first Colbert Report episode, and ended with a so-so skit, but the middle was gold. And if I hadn't seen the Colbert Report, the beginning would have been gold, too.

I saw a quote from some press guy complaining that these functions are supposed to be making fun of both Bush and the press, but Colbert was just making fun of Bush.

What an idiot.

I saw a comment putting Colbert up there with Hicks, Bruce, and even Twain. This was some layered entertainment. As you realize, he wasnt just making fun, he was revealing some cringing, nauseating, unphotogenic truths about every politician, staffer, actor, writer, and PR director in the room.

yeah, i've been reading some stuff on other forums where liberal types are nearly orgasmic over how Colbert PWNED!!11! bush!!! and how ballsy he was.

Obviously Bush was the main foil, but any self respecting comedian at an event like that would twist the knife a little bit. They knew what he was about when they invited him. No harm, no foul. I don't really see it as the huge victory for liberal thinking that some lefties do, but anyway.

As I see it, that is somewhat similar to Colbert's point. The stuff he said about Bush wasn't all that groundbreaking. It's stuff everybody already knows - the Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday stuff was even one of Bush's campaign issues. His venom was primarily pointed at the press - any self respecting journalists should be twisting the knife a little bit.

My sense of celebration was not so much that I've never heard it before, (Chapelle's Black Bush bit is hilarious) but (metaphor alert) that I've never seen the bubble so close to the needle, in public before. And the needle so unflapplingly sharp. And convention, publicity, decorum requiring the bubble sit and take it with a smile.

I just watched it. You know, we see that stuff posted on the internet all the time, so it wasn't shocking material. What was shocking was that he said it all right there, in front of Bush. In front of all those people. I'm amazed that Bush even agreed to have this event.

He goes every year; it's tradition. On a previous one, Bush's skit was about him looking under the podium for WMDs.

See, with Americans and particulary members of the armed forces as the butt of that bit, I felt it was not funny at all. I think they had the right butts this year.

Here's an article that says what I was trying to say.

Great article! thanks!

Absolutey the best roast I've seen in a while. I used to like the Friar's Club, but they have gotten to the point where it's crude without being very funny.

Colbert was dry and witty and absolutely brilliant.

The 'chocolate city' line was great.

I wonder if Rove arranged this as a payback. :lol:

Considering that the roast was on CSPAN, I doubt much of "Red" America saw it, and if they had, I doubt their opinons would be swayed; they're entrenched. In the end, it was Colbert preaching to the choir, albeit in the enemy's church. As has been said in this string, that was its significance. I thought the video was not up to the standards of his speech, however.

I dont think Colbert was there really to sway anyone with his mocking, or to preach, really. He was there to comment. And it was a strong comment. He used humor to surface and show, or demonstrate to those gather for the press club dinner, what they were or maybe were not. They were forced to question their work and power. They were also forced to "get the bit" , which some did not, or denied. So the crickets chirped.

On Not Getting It
 

I've found that a lot of people, especially on the Right, truly don't "get" Colbert's humor at all, regardless of the venue. For example, when Colbert does that self-aggrandizing trot to the interview desk on "The Report," he's making fun of the "real" pundits on Fox etc. It's a symbolic gesture. I bet some people are confused by that move and just turn off the tube.

I agree. The video was up to the standards of what normally gets viewed at those dinners (remember the Bush "looking for WMD's" video).

I think the speech was well and truly something noone expected.

The video probably had to be prescreened...

There was no way that speech would have passed a presrcreening, though.:lol:

Man, I just saw this about ten minutes ago, my parents were watching it and I stopped my pop-tart quest to watch too.

A-fuckin-mazing.

It gets me more that he said it TO BUSH, right there not twenty feet from him, than anything else.

The line about the photo-ops alone had me floored.

That's an understatement. (If they wise up and remove it, this is a support-DeLay site that put up a link to a Colbert interview, not realizing that Colbert is a satirist)

I see they also have a donation link. How much does it cost to process a transaction? If I were to donate a dollar, would it cost them more than a dollar to process it?

They have a $5 minimum, unfortunately. Though if you sent checks for less, they might cash them - and it would cost them more.

Donate $0.01 anyway. That will definitely cost them more to process than the value of the donation.