Are
you sick of reading the analysis of Stephen Colbert's performance at the White House
Correspondents' Dinner yet? I am. I mean, I haven't seen something so inconsequential polarize so many people since
"Clay vs. Ruben". It seems like most of the analysts fall into two camps: either Colbert is a patriot and a hero for
mocking the Bush administration and the media right to their uncomfortable
little faces, or he was a blowhard that just wasn't funny, no matter who he was
skewering. USA Today recaps
the latest columnists to weigh in on the matter.Really, folks, it was a glorified stand-up routine. It's almost a week already; it's time for us to move on.
[Photo: Mandel Nagan/Getty Images]












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-04-2006 @ 7:06PM
Ben said...
Yeah no kidding. Love the guy, but tired of the Colbert Roast headlines.
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5-04-2006 @ 7:52PM
LoganT said...
Amen.
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5-04-2006 @ 8:49PM
Michael C said...
Yeah, grrr, stop reporting about it...but first, let me write this post about it on TV Squad, THEN stop reporting about it.
...but if you don't we'll keep linking you anyway, grrr!
Er, ahem, I mean, he poked fun at the media, so now everyone in the media feels the need to respond. I do agree that there are plenty of more pressing issues that could use the attention.
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5-04-2006 @ 8:52PM
Landon Howell said...
Welll... if the Huffington Post speaks out against it, that you tell you two things:
1) It wasn't enough, or it was too much left-wing.
AMD/OR
2) It just wasn't funny.
...I thought it was mildly entertaining in a "Comedy Central Roast" way. However, it "rip Bush a new one."
Folks... the best thing about Bush is that he doens't give a crap what you say about him - good or bad.
I like that.
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5-04-2006 @ 10:03PM
Josh said...
I must disagree. When a president disapproved of by a majority of Americans is basically a captive audience to someone who will tell it as it is... that is news. It doesn't happen normally.
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5-04-2006 @ 10:09PM
Landon Howell said...
There's a difference between news, and jokes about news Josh.
Oooooh, I get it - you must watch The Daily Show.. they confuse news and news jokes all the time.
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5-04-2006 @ 10:23PM
Landon Howell said...
Also, Josh. Do you honestly think the President doesn't "know how it is?" He's the President... he knows more about things going on in this country than 99.99% of the people in this world.
He makes decisions based of thousands of different criteria everyday. Criteria that he doesn't broadcast because protecting our country is job #1 as President.
You honestly think Stephen Colbert gave him a wake-up call?
Now whether you like him or hate him, he's the most powerful man in the world, period. Stephen Colbert - a man who every evening pulls in a viewership of a FEW thousand college students and cube-monkeys - didn't "tell" the President of the United States anything.
I'm tired of this "Oooo, he sure told Bush!" attitude that many people (including many of the writers/readers of this blog) have embraced.
You folks gotta realize, it's not Bush's job to be popular... it's his job to be President.
Stephen Colbert *is* funny. He is not, however, a truth-carrying-patriot who invaided the White House for the glory of the American people.
He is the by-product of somebody at the White House owing somebody at Comedy Central a favor.
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5-04-2006 @ 10:50PM
TC said...
When a soldier questioned the commands of Shakespeare's King Lear, the servant usually lost his head. But, when the jester made fun of the King by using the obvious, biting truth, the King called him a fool, and let him live.
Chris Durang reminded me of that part of the story (I read nearly 20 years ago) in his post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-durang/ignoring-colbert-part-tw_b_20130.html "It's like Hamlet forcing King Claudius to watch the play that accuses him of murder. Or it's like a man asked to be Court Jester who shows up and tells the king exactly what's wrong with him, and gets out of the building before they can behead him."
I believe that Colbert has done something so ballsie, so obviously needed, that it is the clarion call of our time from the court jester. It's the Walter Cronkite moment. It was more than John Stewart lecturing the bow tied Tucker Carlson. It was more than Letterman telling O'Reilly, "I think that 60% of what you say is crap." I believe it was even more than the unprecedented 6 retired generals calling for Rumsfeld's resignation. It was in the President's face, and why it was worse for the President? Because he's so used to going to rallies filled with BUSH ONLY SUPPORTERS, that he wasn't prepared for what should have happened 2 years ago.
The best lines, "This administration is soaring, like the Hindenberg." "Fox News gives both sides, the President's side and the Vice President's side." Something about, "The new Snow Job." And, "Please whisper in the middle of the table and the NSA will bring it to you."
This morning I read Lt Gen Odom's opinion piece in the LA Times "Iraq: Get Out Now." This evening I had seen the Ex CIA Agent posing legitimate questions to Secretary Rumsfeld's. I believe more will come and I believe that the flood gates were open by the court jester, Stephen Colbert.
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5-04-2006 @ 11:26PM
Clark said...
I love how all you nice folks who go on and on about how Mr. Colbert doesn't matter make the case that he does indeed matter. He got your attention. He got a lot of people's attention. And, funny or not, agree with him or not, people are now watching and listening to that video. Colbert's speech has taken on viral life of its own. Every day this week, more and more people are hearing what Colbert said and are making up their own minds. And that scares a lot of people whose current best commentary is "Move along, people. Nothing to see here."
Please keep wrting comments putting down Stephen Colbert. Please keep saying he's tired and over. And especially please keep saying that no one cares. You'll just make people more interested.
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5-04-2006 @ 11:27PM
Roberto said...
THE TRUTHINESS HURTS!
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5-04-2006 @ 11:41PM
CHRISTINA HOUCHINS said...
I'M VERY MUCH THE BUSH HATER AND I THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT IT WAS YOU GUYS THAT VOTED HIM IN TWICE SO HE'S YOUR PROBLEM NOW AND WHAT A PROBLEM HE IS
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5-04-2006 @ 11:56PM
Ron said...
I thought Steven C was great. Especially the line about arranging deck chairs on the Hindenburg. He let some fresh air in Bubble Boy's world. And that doesn't happen too often. Bush has no respect for the rest of us, so a healthy dose of same is well deserved.
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5-05-2006 @ 12:29AM
Edie Mascolo said...
Stephen Colbert is great! As far as Bush being insulted - that is impossible. He said today he doesn't follow polls - after all, "I'm not running for re-election". If you don't like what he does, his attitude is - so what! Colbert and Jon Stewart mix real news with their take on it - great satire.
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5-05-2006 @ 12:40AM
Landon Howell said...
Alright... that's it. You folks are all sheep in the field of the Democratic Party. Michael Moore is your shepherd... Howard Dean is your green pasture... keep believing what your Democratic leaders feed you everyday on your local news station.
Do you honestly think for one second that Bush doesn't know what people think of him? The fact that you've failed to see this point destroys your credibility alltogether.
My gosh... he'e the President. His day begins (and I'm not making this up) when he sits down to review all the possible ways that people will attempt to assasinate him during the day.
I highly doubt that Colbert "taught" him anything. Stephen Colbert is a wannabe journalist who doubles as a stand-up comic.
The fact that people such as yourself see him as some type of "polical icon" shouldn't at all surprise me. You people look for heros in the strangestr places.
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5-05-2006 @ 12:56AM
Squeegis said...
WTG Colbert!
George W. will go down as one of the worst Presidents of our time.
It is so sad how the right wing has taken over the republican party. Instead of real ideas such as balancing the budget, health care, global warming (even your sacred Bill OReilly agrees, oil/gas Mideast dependence, lobbyists gone wild, corruption, etc/, they are concerned with taking back Christmas and Gay Marriage.
Please, I used to vote Republican. I won't again until they grow a brain and use it.
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5-05-2006 @ 1:05AM
PJ said...
Stephen did a great job with the opportunity he was presented and will hopefully get America to open it's eyes to the arrogance of our current administration.
To the gentleman who said.. "You folks gotta realize, it's not Bush's job to be popular... it's his job to be President."
Indeed, it is G.W.'s job to be President. But the flaw in your logic is that part of the President's job is to make the decisions that are best for our citizens. Mr. Colbert realizes that Bush has failed the American people with almost every decision he has made over the last 6 years. If the President was making decisions that Americans agree with, his "popularity" ratings would be much higher.
Unfortunately, it seems there are still invididuals that share your point of view about Bush. Maybe Colbert didn't open the eyes of the President, but he at least started a fire under the American people that will hopefully lead them to the polls during the mid term elections.
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5-05-2006 @ 7:49AM
Georgia said...
I thought it interesting on 60 Minutes last Sunday when Colbert said he does not believe alot of the stuff he says on his show. There was also the reference of him portraying a role on The Colbert Report.
After last Saturday, let's hope Colbert never needs a pardon!
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5-05-2006 @ 8:51AM
Elliott said...
I'll stop talking about, when Apple acknowledges my requests to make it available on the iTunes Music Store. Seriously, just let me download it and watch it over and over on my iPod and I'll leave everyone alone.
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5-05-2006 @ 9:22AM
joe said...
joel,
i'm confused. you say it's time to move on, yet you post the 'news' to this website, thus affirming that it is indeed noteworthy, and by doing so, encourage the conversation to continue.
by not posting, you could have saved tvsquad (and the world) from 19 more entries into this 'inconsequential' debate.
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5-05-2006 @ 11:34AM
Evadne said...
I do love Stephen Colbert, but I think his comedy often depends on his character not being in on the joke and that can be hard to sell to a live audience--especially a hypersensitive live audience. What did they think was going to happen when they asked him to come? You want somebody to lob softballs at you about airplane food, get Seinfeld.
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