HUMOR ALERT: ‘The Colbert Report’ is lethal satire
- The Colbert Report
- Monday - Thursday @ 11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central
It’s not that I think that “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” is getting stale or anything, even though it peaked a few years ago. But I’m ready to declare “The Colbert Report” funnier already.
Maybe it’s because the “The Daily Show” has gotten too damn popular to be hip anymore, and I’m trying to be ahead of the pop culture curve by claiming its demise in the face of “The Colbert Report.”
One thing’s for sure: Stephen Colbert, who hosts “The Colbert Report” after a long run as the straight-faced reporter on “The Daily Show,” is a lot funnier than Jon Stewart, the host of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” There’s a reason why Stewart struggled in show biz before landing his current gig — he’s not very humorous on his own. Sure, give him good writing and a forum to display his above-average intelligence (as far as comics go) and you’ve got a successful formula. But have you ever laughed at his stand-up routines, or his forgettable movies?
Colbert, on the other hand, seems to be both funny and smart. The one thing he isn’t is sincere — a trait that has helped Stewart build a mass following. Colbert’s new show seems like an excuse to make fun of Bill O’Reilly for 22 minutes. It started out as a segment on “The Daily Show,” and since Comedy Central was struggling to find anything to hold down it’s 11:30 p.m.- midnight weekday time slot, it made “The Colbert Report” into a full show. (While we’re here, enough with Adam Corrolla, please. He’s “hanging out with the guys” funny, but not “his own talk show” funny.) No doubt helping “The Colbert Report“‘s cause is having a lead-in like “The Daily Show,” especially since Colbert had been a fixture on the show for so long.
Like I said, “The Colbert Report” is an obvious lampoon of Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” Other comedy shows like Saturday Night Live (Well, what used to be a comedy show) and MAD TV have tried in the past to spoof O’Reilly with lame results. Sometimes O’Reilly himself is funnier (not intentionally) than those trying to mock him.
But “The Colbert Report” nails it — not only making a joke of O’Reilly but of pro-American cheerleaders that pose as TV journalists (a.k.a. Fox News). The show’s graphics and set are draped in American flags, much like Fox News, and a bald eagle flies towards the screen, talons first, at the close of the show’s introduction. The “liberal media” is bashed every five seconds or so, Hollywood is blamed for the decline in moral values and George Bush is referred to as a great president.
And Colbert is the just perfect guy to pull this off because of his smarmy wit and Young Republican look. I mean, I already knew Colbert was funny, but you really don’t get a sense of how brilliant his delivery and timing are until you see him in a forum like this. His facial expressions, gestures, word accentuations — everything is spot-on. And he does it all while keeping a straight face.
Where O’Reilly has a Talking Points segment at the top of his show, Colbert has The Word — his strongest segment. He takes a word that typically isn’t a word — “truthiness” and “shhhhhh!” have been used — ties it to a hot news topic and begins to rant, instead of inform. While he rants a box just to right of him flashes commentary that accentuates the points he’s trying to get across in a comical fashion, rather than just putting into text what he is saying, which is what occurs with O’Reilly’s Talking Points. Honestly, the text commentary is often funnier than Colbert’s monologues.
Colbert also welcomes a guest on each show and so far most have been TV journalists, including Stone Phillips and Lesley Stahl. Colbert, already armed with ridiculously absurd questions, is able to keep the one-on-ones very humorous by being quick on his feet. Improv is definitely one his strengths. But perhaps the most surprising aspect of his interviews is his ability to maintain his character of a conservative, egotistical talking head while having fun with the guests at the same time.
There aren’t any segments outside of The Word and the guest interview that show up in every episode, which forces the show to be creative in filling the rest of the time — something “The Daily Show” has been struggling with for some time now. “The Colbert Report” has turned to hilarious bits such as The Threat Countdown and Better Know Your District to keep things fresh and smart. In Better Know Your District, Colbert does a brief package that runs down info on one of the United States’ 400 some-odd districts. Once it’s over, he then puts it up on “the big board.” Three have been completed at the time of this story. Again, brilliant.
In one of my favorite segments, Russ Lieber is revealed as the Al Franken to Stephen Colbert’s O’Reilly. The fictional Lieber, played by omnipresent funnyman David Cross, spends all of his time on his talk radio show bashing Colbert, who then replays the clips for his audience before continuing the feud by supplying his gripes with Lieber’s views. It’s all too funny because it’s all too real. Which pretty much sums up “The Colbert Report.”
November 5th, 2005 at 2:57 am
The Russ Lieber bit was amazing. I hope they do it often. Anything that puts David Cross on TV is OK by me. Also, it was awesome to see Paul Dinello earlier this week. “Strangers with Candy” was way ahead of its time, so I’m always glad to see them both on the same show again.
It’s a shame for The Daily Show to lose Colbert, because I’m still not sold on their new correspondents. Rob Corddry and Ed Helms have been proving to be two of the best they’ve ever had, however. It’s asking a lot for The Daily Show to stay at it’s peak forever, but I’m happy for them to find a nice, hight plateau and ride it out. It may not be their best stuff, but they’ve got big shoes to fill. Colbert, however is off to an amazing start, and he’s got nowhere left to go but up.
November 6th, 2005 at 2:30 am
I think Colbert, over time, can get annoying though. Each and every time I watch it, I chuckle but get sick of the “sarcastic humor” in short order.
Entertaining? Yes. Does it have the longevity like the Daily Show? Probably not. I think the formula is simple - variety. I think that the Daily Show’s variety is its formula (along with the fantastic writing that has been pretty consistent).
I hope for Steven, that I eat my words and it sticks around though.
March 28th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
it’s best to watch the O’Reilly factor and then watch the colbert report. it’s just that much funnier.
August 1st, 2006 at 12:36 pm
[…] I don’t watch either The Colbert Report or The Daily Show religiously, but I catch them from time to time. Last night they both happened to be on while I was in the gym, although I was only half paying attention (I was watching an episode of Lost on the ipod). The bits I did catch confirmed this sneaking feeling I’ve had in what I’d seen of each show recently. I think The Colbert Report is funnier. I did a quick search to see if people are actually comparing these shows head to head, and it looks like others agree with me. At the very least, it seems like it’s become popular to compare the two shows. […]