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COLBERT GETS TO THE TRUTHINESS
February 10, 2006
It's only been on the air a little over three months, but Comedy Central's mock news show "The Colbert Report," a spinoff of "The Daily Show," has already proven that 60 minutes of brutal, nightly satire is even more fun than 30.
In fact, the new show may be even funnier than Jon Stewart's half hour, even if its inherent absurdity prevents it from sounding a moral ring of truth, like "The Daily Show" does when it righteously and correctly attacks crooked politics and the self-serving national media.
"The Colbert Report" stars Stephen Colbert playing a variation on the pompous news correspondent he perfected during his years on "The Daily Show." Colbert, the character, is an exaggeration of all those CNN and Fox News "talking heads, "the host of his own politically-charged gabfest who spouts insane punditry from down on high like Bill O'Reilly gone crazy. (Well, okay, more crazy.) He's a loud-mouth, know-it-all braggart who wants to make the world a better place with a my-way-or-the-highway philosophy and thinks the only man who has the skill to debate him is himself -- a monumental showdown which actually happens from time to time on "The Colbert Report." Heck, when it's time to chat with that night's guest, it's Colbert who gets the grand entrance, strutting into the interview room to the sound of raucous audience applause while the guest has already been seated off camera.
Rationally, this characterization, and the joke that all media mouthpieces are full of themselves, should wear itself thin after a handful of episodes, but Colbert and his writing staff keep bringing the laughs thanks to a series of recurring features that have only become more hilariously ludicrous in recent weeks.
The best is the ThreatDown, a semi-regular offering of people, places, and things Colbert accuses of causing fear throughout the world. Recent items included on the ThreatDown include iPods, unleaded gas, tolerance ("a $10 word for weakness," according to Colbert), Kobe Bryant, robots and, last but not least, bears - Colbert's most dreaded enemy who often find their way onto the list. It's not uncommon to hear him accusing the furry, four-legged animals of having a "radical bear agenda" and "getting ready for a springtime offensive."
Funny stuff. Even funnier is that the Associated Press recently made number one on the ThreatDown, which resulted in a played-for-laughs tift between Colbert and the news wire service that somehow made real headlines. This all started when the American Dialect Society named "truthiness," a word that Colbert has coined to mean truth that you know in your heart rather than your head, as the 2005 word of the year. The AP ran a story about it but neglected to mention Colbert as the source of the word's recent popularity. Colbert immediately began attacking the AP with an air of mock indignation, saying the news service could no longer be trusted. The entire brouhaha only added fuel to Colbert's bizarre rants and gave "The Colbert Report" an early running gag that demanded regular viewing.
Whether Colbert the comedian can keep Colbert the fake yet fiery TV news personality interesting for more than a few months remains to be seen. But the joke hasn't grown stale yet, and I think the truthiness of the situation is that "The Colbert Report" will only grow more delightfully ridiculous in the near future. If you already enjoy "The Daily Show," there's no good reason not to stick around for the 30 minutes of lunatic raving that follows.
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