TVSquad

Keith Olbermann! Come on down! You're the next TV celebrity whose death has been falsely reported on the Internet!

The MSNBC Countdown's Wikipedia page reported he had died earlier this morning, possibly due to complications from celiac disease.

I sent emails to two networks officials to confirm this jarring claim. Jeremy Gaines, MSNBC's vice president of communications, responded that he is certain the entry is a "hoax" and that he and other network officials were working to correct it. The section on Olbermann's death has since been removed from the page.

The time and nation that Stephen Colbert couldn't reveal where he is taking his show has been revealed. And because elite Army ninjas have not sneaked into his studio and whisked him away to an interrogation room for breaking the military code of silence, it's been confirmed by the network.

Stephen Colbert is taking his Colbert Report to Baghdad for the troops next week. The network claims this is the first time the USO has brought a television show into a combat area for a week of shows, if you don't count, say, the news.

Colbert has landed in Baghdad and underwent some basic military training to prepare for his visit to the region at Camp Victory, the former home of Saddam Hussein's Al-Faw Palace. That alone should provide hours of hilarious material for the show. But there's more going on than just producing something to keep you entertained during your post-work Kraft dinner.

America's favorite megalomaniac takes on America's least favorite megalomaniac and for once in this karma-deprived universe, the megalomaniac we were rooting for has won.

Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report called on his legion of fans/cult-like followers who would not only follow their leader into the gates of Hell, but also take his place in the seventh circle (the one that only gets QVC, C-Span 2 and late night knife infomercials) to help him vanquish his foes. In the past, he has used his followers to take on enemy combatants such as Chuck Norris, indie rock group the Decemberists and Oshawa, Ontario mayor John Gray.

This time, he's taken down someone more feared, despised and loathed than all three of those figures combined in a tragic teleportation device accident.

Leave it to Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation to turn a parody of Lance Armstrong's "LiveStrong" cancer awareness bracelet into a massive donation to a charitable cause. As the AP reports, since Colbert began selling his red "WristStrong" bracelets as part of his "wrist awareness" campaign, begun in response to Colbert breaking his own wrist, he has raised an incredible $171,525. And, on last night's broadcast, he presented the proceeds to The Yellow Ribbon Fund, a real organization that helps injured service members.

Stephen Colbert continues to find ways to turn his mock commentator into a true industry leader, all the while keeping tongue firmly in cheek. Is it any wonder that he's surpassed Jon Stewart as the buzz du jour of the teen and college set? Personally I really hope we get a Democrat in office in this next election, even if only to see how the decidedly right-winged Colbert persona is able to respond to everything he or she does.

[via Yahoo!]

Finally someone shows some love for Lost, which got itself back on track last season. The Directors Guild announced their nominees for this year's awards. Lost nabbed two nominations in the Dramatic Series category, for "The Looking Glass" and "The Brig." The Sopranos picked up two of the three remaining nominations, saving the last one for AMC's excellent freshmen drama, Mad Men.

On the comedy side, 30 Rock nabbed two nominations, with Desperate Housewives and Entourage picking up one each. And the critical love for ABC's incredibly charming Pushing Daisies continues as it snatches the final spot. But one category in which the Directors think very differently than anyone else is in Reality Programs. Not only is the kitschy Who Wants to be a Superhero? nominated, but is joined by Shooting Sizemore and Pros vs. Joes. The full list, including commercials, documentaries and mini-series after the jump.

With the strike still in full effect, new episodes of The Colbert Report won't be coming to Comedy Central anytime soon. So Colbert and the cast are moving the production to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City for one show tonight. Just as 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live did before him, Colbert is bringing his "No-Spin Zone" to a sold out crowd.

Advance reservations are sold out, but there will be a standby line. No word on if there will be any guests, nor if Colbert will be performing "classic" bits or new material, though if he follows directly in the footprints of Rock and SNL, there won't be any new written material. But Colbert is a gifted comedian, so surely he can't be penalized by the Guild for ad-libbing some stuff. "Tonight on The Colbert Report, we investigate what the hell happened to my cameras, and where all these people came from."

[via PopCandy]

After tonight's episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert will put his cast up for auction on eBay. Colbert broke his wrist in June while running around his set before the show began. The proceeds from the sale will go to the Yellow Ribbon Fund for injured military service members and their families as they recuperate at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center.

The Yellow Ribbon Fund is a favorite of Colbert's. He has already used his cast to raise money for the injured soldiers and their families by selling 'WristStrong' bracelets, a spoof of Lance Armstrong (and Nike's) LiveStrong yellow bracelets that raise money for cancer research. By the way, if you can't afford Stephen's cast, you can probably still afford one of his 'WristStrong' bracelets, which are for sale on his website.

Colbert's cast is signed by a wide variety of political and news figures: Nancy Pelosi, Tony Snow, Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Tim Russert, Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Bloomberg.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is dropping its lawsuit against Viacom. The EFF had sued Viacom over a takedown notice the media company sent regarding a Stephen Colbert parody clip posted to YouTube.

The EFF had filed its lawsuit on behalf of MoveOn.org, Civic Action, and Brave New Films. The video, called "Stop the Falsiness," was created using clips from The Colbert Report, but it was a parody of both Colbert's right-wing schtick and MoveOn.org. At first Viacom denied sending a takedown notice over the video, but later the company admitted that it had sent the notice and that it had been a mistake to do so.

Well, it's no surprise that Stephen Colbert wasn't invited back to speak at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, after last year's event (plus the fact I don't think they invite the same speakers back year after year), but I wasn't prepared for the choice they've come up with to speak at this year's dinner.

Impersonator Rich Little.

I agree with Editor & Publisher that this choice seems a little...safe? I mean, getting someone who was last popular in the early 80s to speak at the annual dinner seems a little odd. I mean, he'll probably do an impersonation of President Bush, but I can't see it going beyond light satire (if there's any satire at all). Nothing against Little. He's a talented guy of course. But it's almost as if they said, "last year we had a big banana split, with hot fudge and sprinkles and whipped cream. This year we're just going with a small dish of vanilla, please."

Sean Bartlett wrote an interesting piece for The Boston Phoenix about his experience working as an unpaid intern on The Colbert Report. Apparently Stephen is a pretty decent guy to work for, which is nice to hear. I mean, it would have made the story more interesting if the real Stephen (not the character he plays on TV) was the kind of boss who threw a keyboard at your head or kicked a chair out from under you whenever he got upset, but what can you do? As an intern, Bartlett got to shadow staff members, and even sit in on a writer's meeting and throw out ideas of his own. Oh yeah, and it was Sean who Stephen threatened to fire for putting whole milk in his coffee. You can watch that clip after the jump.

[via CC Insider]

The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert gave the 2006 commencement address at Knox College over the weekend. At the start of it, he acknowledges that he is a man named Stephen Colbert, but he also plays a man on TV with the same name, and he's not sure which one they invited to speak:

"On a beautiful day like this, I'm reminded of my own graduation 20 years ago, at Northwestern University. I didn't start there, I finished there. On the graduation day, a beautiful day like this. We're all in our gowns. I go up to the podium to get my leather folder with my diploma in it. And as I get it from the Dean, she leans in close to me and she smiles and the Dean leans into me, shakes my hand, and says "I'm sorry." I have no idea what she means. So I go back to my seat and I open it up. And, instead of having a diploma inside, there's a scrap - a torn scrap of paper - that has scrawled on it, "See me." I kid you not.

Evidently I had an incomplete in an independent study that I had failed to complete. And I did not have enough credits. And, let me tell you, when your whole family shows up and you get to have your picture taken with them - and instead of holding up your diploma, you hold the torn corner of a yellow legal pad - that is a humbling experience."

[via TV Tattle]

There's a lot of controversy about Stephen Colbert's performance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner last weekend. Personally, I don't get all the hubbub. I mean, didn't they know who he was, what he did, before they called him up and said, "hey, wanna come speak?"

If you'd like to support Colbert, you can always watch his show, but now you can also get one of these T-shirts. They have a pic of Colbert on it and it says "Colbert Has Stones." Wear it proudly.

Also check out this site that has collected over 32,000 signatures from people who support Colbert.

[via TV Tattle]

Jon started off by commenting on how huge Exxon (still) is, pulling in a huge $10.7 billion a year. They're so rich now, they've actually started buying tankers of oil for the sole purpose of crashing into Alaska. Plus, their tiger looks pimpin'.

"The Great Firewall of China": Google has agreed to censor their Chinese websearches. That's a little... strange. Jon tested out the new censored Google by running a search for "underage Asian beaver" and clicking "I'm feeling undying obedience to our fearless leader". Up came a Beijing Online article about the high birth rate of beavers.

If you caught The Colbert Report last night, you heard Stephen tooting his own horn over the fact that "truthiness," a word/phrase he claims to have coined, was chosen as the Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society (ADA). I assumed, like probably many others, that Stephen was completely and utterly full of crap, having a bit of fun with all of us. The folks over at BC Beat dug a bit deeper, however, and found that yes, there is in fact an American Dialect Society, and yes, "truthiness" is indeed the 2005 Word of the Year. I doff my hat to you, old timer. You are indeed a wordsmith to be reckoned with, and I am humbled in your presence.