Cheer If You Like Stephen Colbert

The NY Times covers the blogospheric reaction to the Stephen Colbert performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner:

What Mr. Smith did not anticipate, he said, was that Mr. Colbert's nearly 20-minute address would become one of the most hotly debated topics in the politically charged blogosphere. Mr. Colbert delivered his remarks in character as the Bill O'Reillyesque commentator he plays on "The Colbert Report," although this time his principal foil, President Bush, was just a few feet away.

"There was nothing he said where I would have leapt up to say, 'Stop,' " said Mr. Smith, who introduced Mr. Colbert and sat near him on the dais. "I thought he was very funny," Mr. Smith added, though there was hardly consensus on that point yesterday.

At issue was a heavily nuanced, often ironic performance by Mr. Colbert, who got in many licks at the president — on the invasion of Iraq, on the administration's penchant for secrecy, on domestic eavesdropping — with lines that sounded supportive of Mr. Bush but were quickly revealed to be anything but. And all this after Mr. Colbert tried, at the outset, to soften up the president by mocking his intelligence, saying that he and Mr. Bush were "not so different," by which he meant, he explained, "we're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol."

"Now I know there's some polls out there saying this man has a 32-percent approval rating," Mr. Colbert said a few moments later. "But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking 'in reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias."

I need to pause and applaud Mr. Colbert's courage here - I'll bet that, until that moment, President Bush was utterly unaware of his poll numbers, and thought that, amongst the Great Unwashed, he was regarded as one of the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree.  Stephen Colbert - Speaking Truth to Power as he carves a path to the comic frontier!

Noam Scheiber of TNR is cited; Stephen Spruiell of the NRO ought to be.  Let me steal from Mr. Scheiber:

Jon Stewart often says he hates when his audience cheers; he wants them to laugh. My sense is that, had most of the bloggers complaining about the WHCD been around Saturday night, there would have been lots of cheering but not much more laughing.

And Mary Matalin delivers a sensible quote:

Mary Matalin, a Republican who has served the Bush White House as assistant to the president and counselor to the vice president, had a different take.

"This was predictable, Bush-bashing kind of humor," Ms. Matalin, who was there, said in an interview. Of Mr. Colbert, she said, "Because he is who he is, and everyone likes him, I think this room thought he was going to be more sophisticated and creative."

UPDATE:  Richard Cohen of the WaPo is so not cheering:

...Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude. Rude is not the same as brash. It is not the same as brassy. It is not the same as gutsy or thinking outside the box. Rudeness means taking advantage of the other person's sense of decorum or tradition or civility that keeps that other person from striking back or, worse, rising in a huff and leaving. The other night, that person was George W. Bush.

...

Why are you wasting my time with Colbert, I hear you ask. Because he is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention wit, in this country. His defenders -- and they are all over the blogosphere -- will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences -- maybe even death in some countries. When you spoke truth to power you took the distinct chance that power would smite you, toss you into a dungeon or -- if you're at work -- take away your office.

But in this country, anyone can insult the president of the United States. Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all. He knew that going in. He also knew that Bush would have to sit there and pretend to laugh at Colbert's lame and insulting jokes. Bush himself plays off his reputation as a dunce and his penchant for mangling English. Self-mockery can be funny. Mockery that is insulting is not. The sort of stuff that would get you punched in a bar can be said on a dais with impunity. This is why Colbert was more than rude. He was a bully.

...

On television, Colbert is often funny. But on his own show he appeals to a self-selected audience that reminds him often of his greatness. In Washington he was playing to a different crowd, and he failed dismally in the funny person's most solemn obligation: to use absurdity or contrast or hyperbole to elucidate -- to make people see things a little bit differently. He had a chance to tell the president and much of important (and self-important) Washington things it would have been good for them to hear. But he was, like much of the blogosphere itself, telling like-minded people what they already know and alienating all the others. In this sense, he was a man for our times.

He also wasn't funny.

Yike. 

Comments

[Pofarmer]

I think our President is a very gracious man.

[Jos Bleau]

Dude, you totally don't get it.

Colbert said bad things about a grown-up - AND THE GROWN-UP WAS RIGHT THERE! IN THE ROOM!

Nobody else would have done that! Nobody!

He's still not as cool as the kid with a go-cart, though.

[Semanticleo]

All the prattle about how funny Colbert was; is biting satire intended
to tickle the ears of the intended
targets?

Go fish.

Anyhow, there is nothing funny about
the legion of ills we face as a country. Some need a good slap in the
face to get their frontal lobes to
producin' some juicin'.

[Pofarmer]

"Anyhow, there is nothing funny about
the legion of ills we face as a country"

Unfortunately, I think there's some disagreement as to what these ills are.

[Cecil Turner]

I like Stephen Colbert, and think he's consistently hilarious on Stewart's show, but he flopped badly at the Correspondent's Dinner. (Full disclosure: I caught about the first five minutes and flipped channels.) I think the problem was that he was missing the sight gags he usually uses on the Daily Show (e.g., I remember falling over at the bland delivery and raised eyebrow, while the background screen showed an x-ray of an enlarged set of testicles . . . okay, so I have low tastes). Maybe it was the format that threw him off. It all seemed very heavy-handed and forced. (Which might've worked if Don Rickles or Henny Youngman had delivered it, but it didn't for Colbert.)

[capitano]

I heard Colbert was relieved that he wasn't upstaged. The rumor was that Valerie Plame was going to stand up on a table during Colbert's performance and reveal her T-shirt -- "2,245 Dead. How many more?"

Then who would have been the star of the lefty blogosphere?

[AB]

He wasn't going for laughs from the stiffs and sycophants in the audience. He was playing to the back of the room, i.e. the 65+ percentage of this country that wants Bush's head on a stick for what he's done to us. He laid to rest one of the most asinine stereotypes harbored by the self-serving rightwing - that liberals don't have guts.

I do love how staunch wingers, as Cecil demonstrates, actually enjoy both Colbert and Stewart. If you couldn't read the absolute withering contempt he has for what the cons have done to our country, you really are as clueless as stereotypes suggest. I'm happy you don't get it though. Otherwise your media props, like Kristol, would stop appearing on their shows, to get their asses handed to them so hilariously.

[windansea]

Some need a good slap in the
face to get their frontal lobes to
producin' some juicin'.

Posted by: Semanticleo

ah Cleo...you've been reading Larry Johnson

[kim]

I think he stole my line that the 'reality based' believe what the MSM tell them and that it is liberal. Groseclose and Milyo quantify that bias, and that warp from 'reality'. There is plenty of cause for amusement for animals of all political stripes, as is commonly the case when an ironist strikes, hotly.
====================================

[G Wiz]

What perplexes me is this emerging meme that mainstream media are somehow Bush "lapdogs." And that supposedly explains why the media werent laughing at Colberts routine.

As for me I thought Colbert was pretty funny. Predicatble since we've heard it all for years from Bill Maher, Jon Stewart etc., but still funny.

[Sue]

About the only good thing I can say about Colbert was at least this time it wasn't a funeral or memorial service and this audience was much quieter than the attendees of those events. Other than that, I found the Helen Thomas part not funny at all. Some of the stuff Colbert said made me smile, but nothing made me laugh.

[noah]

AB, you ought to know I guess since you have had your ass handed to you without fail every time you show your sorry ass at JOM.

[kim]

Jos Bleau, good God, haven't you ever been to Mardi Gras? emptywheel has a nice post about the correspondent's dinner being a carnival, and all sorts of people do things otherwise verboten. You think Colbert is unique?
===============================

[kim]

Did you see how he flinched when he mentioned Val's name. Maybe someone bought her that front row seat just for that.
===============================

[Sue]

AB,

He was playing to the back of the room, i.e. the 65+ percentage of this country that wants Bush's head on a stick for what he's done to us.

He is stupid then, if he was playing to an audience that would never see the routine.

[Semanticleo]

ah Cleo...you've been reading Larry Johnson

..been listenin' to the SurfNazis again,
eh windy?

[boris]

</bozo>

[The Unbeliever]

He laid to rest one of the most asinine stereotypes harbored by the self-serving rightwing - that liberals don't have guts.

So now all it takes to show you "have guts" is to crack jokes your audience doesn't find funny? Wow, what a low bar. By that measure, trolls are the bravest people out there. Who knew that the bravest among us were the legions of failed stand-up comics littering the highway of broken dreams?

It's just too bad Colbert reinforced another fun stereotype: liberals ain't funny. (Which is ironic for Colbert, whose Comedy Central show is reliably wittier than Stewart's show, even though Stewart does better interviews.)

[AB]

In your opinion, noah, which hopefully you realize means absolutely nothing to me. I'm only here for research purposes. Learning your thought processes and language has been extremely useful to me in nudging those last few wingers off the ledge. I thank you!

As for the "emerging meme" that the press is a righwing lapdog, it's been emerging a long time while you refused to budge from your echo chamber. Think Judy Miller. Yes, you were carefully taught that the media was "liberal" and that only the propaganda network was "fair and balanced"... and you were all very obedient and noncritical in accepting that. Proving once again the efficacy of Pavlovian training in human beings.

[Other Tom]

The problem I have with this guy's routine is the same problem I have with Jon Stewart: Right now is not a good time for irony.

[Sue]

Are any of you asking yourself, as I am, why we continue to respond to AB?

[AB]

It's just too bad Colbert reinforced another fun stereotype: liberals ain't funny

Weird, but in all my journeys through Wingnuttia I've never heard that one...Quite the total opposite.

In fact, I can't think of one funny conservative. Under the age of 80. Are we talking Dennis Miller here?

It's quite a commentary that apparently a similar audience thought a film of Bush "searching" under couch cushions for WMD was side splitting, while our American sons and daughters were being killed and maimed for his incompetence. So much for conservative humor.

[kim]

How's this for his reception: He was playing to his usual audience, the people who believe the MSM and watch his show because they think it is biting satire. In a room full of people somewhat sensible of the fraud, the schtick stumbles. They were wondering if he were, in fact, satirizing them.

Here's what's really funny: Neither he nor they know. But I suspect a certain poker player sensed the mood of the room quite well, and accommadated.

I think Colbert performed a public service. He certainly explicated a couple of things for me. Did you see the crowd watching each other? Next year they can all wear masques and party round the clock strikes the Redbird Death.
================================

[kim]

Sue, why do we talk to AB et al? A well-practiced blogosphere being necessary for the preservation of liberty, the right of the people to keep and bear witness shall not be infringed. This is drill for field trips.
=================================

[AB]

Uh, kim, Colbert knew exactly what was going on. Though I agree his audience was gobsmacked. Including the petty little "poker player", whose face was as red as a tomato by the end.

[keatssycamore]

What Colbert does is only funny as a parody of Bill O'Reilly. He is dead on with that impersonation. He's as obviously stupid (in character) as O'Reilly (in character?) is. I'm never sure what people would be laughing at other than the dead on impersation of the 'partisan television personality' and the fodder it provides. Carrying on the joke requires carrying on the persona.

Thus, I thought Colbert's biggest weakness was his failure to remain fully committed to the 'stupid pundit' character in his routine.

[kim]

So what does Colbert know about what is going on?

This was a parody of himself, so far as I could tell.
===============================

[kim]

I think our Bitter Bobcat posts at the No Quarterdeck.
================================

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

You have an excellent point. Goldstein has a similiar idiot posting at ProteinWisdom and I've noticed that a "Do Not Feed" sign has been hung on it? him? her?.

There was a bit of humor provided on the gas price thread, however. The coupling of economic illiteracy with complete innumeracy (plus hand wringing bathos) was definitely funny.

After a while it's like laughing at a cripple though. While ignorance may be overcome, stupidity is a permanent condition. I'll respect your request for silence for a week and see if it retreats to its cave. It claims to have young - perhaps it will devote additional time to their malnurture?

[windansea]

Are any of you asking yourself, as I am, why we continue to respond to AB?

because it's there?? :)

Note to AB's psychiatrist...need stronger chemicals!

[AB]

Keep it coming kiddies. You ain't laying a glove. You sound tired. Awww...I can see why. Where do you put all that bluster and bravado now that those liberally biased "facts" have made fools out of your entire political philosophy? Must get heavy.

[Pofarmer]

"After a while it's like laughing at a cripple though. While ignorance may be overcome, stupidity is a permanent condition."

Good catch. My wife is a nurse. They have saying, "Ya can't cure stupid." And there sure is plenty of it out there.

I think this quote proves it

"He was playing to the back of the room, i.e. the 65+ percentage of this country that wants Bush's head on a stick for what he's done to us"

Talk about missreading the signs and overstating your own viewpoint.

[Lesley]

For a good laugh: NB: Includes obligatory Wilson reference! supporting Mr. Crank's theory that JOM commenters will eventually return to all things Plame! The Swarmies of the Night

"Washington, a Town Without Wit or Pity, Finds Persona of Daily Show Guy a Political Hairball—Right Retches, as Lefties Hug Poor Bastard" By Chris Lehmann

[Old Dad]

AB,

It was just a stupid roast for crissakes. Seems that Colbert is usually pretty funny but was a little off his game. So what?

[Syl]

those liberally biased "facts"

I read a couple hundred comments on Colbert at HuffPo and found it really sad. They all believe an exaggerated version of 'truth'. They felt validated by Colbert because he echoed them and they felt betrayed that nobody else appreciated it.

Hyberbole is fine for effect but not for belief. These people will never be truly validated and it's killing them.

[topsecretk9]

It was just a stupid roast for crissakes. Seems that Colbert is usually pretty funny but was a little off his game. So what?

No kidding, so what? Even Colbert acknowledged in a comedic way he bombed.

[kim]

Mark Twain contributed a long running schtick comparing dog turds and cigars, and I think Joe Wilson just updated it.
====================================

[Hit The Bid]

I don't know...AS a regular watcher of his show, I think he pretty much did what he normally does everynight on his show...only difference is that the President was in the room. That makes some people uncomfortable/offended because we have a propensity for deference to Him. But, COlbert is not about watering down his TV persona, or his "schtick" for the sake of lets all get along decorus entertainment.

SO props to him for being funny AND staying true to his character. SO he offended the president? Well I'll bet the President offends alot of people too (that "back of the room" crew).

Colbert is no one's jolly good fellow.

[Forbes]

One question: If Colbert was so funny, how come all these Lefties keep explaining what he was doing/saying?

One clue: If you've got to explain the joke, it ain't funny. And when you're not funny, you don't qualify as clever, either.

Good god, Colbert didn't say anything that hasn't been expressed before--which might explain the muted response.

It's Wednesday, and the "reality-based" community is still trying to explain how Colbert didn't flop. Can't we all just move on?

[Seixon]

Apparently our friends on the Left think that if you didn't find Colbert's entire performance absolutely delightful, you are no longer wanted in "the club".

[AB]

I don't think anyone's trying to explain it to you. Come on. The same audience that peeed their pants watching Bush "search" for WMDs while Americans were dying were NEVER going to laugh at humor directed towards themselves. It's just not part of the sycophant makeup. If they HAD laughed, THAT would have been the sound of Colbert bombing...Apparently, some also misread his show Monday as admitting he thought he bombed? You guys really DO need a humor IV. If you had any self awareness whatsoever, you'd never be caught dead watching his show. And it's clear from this thread that you do.

[BlaBlaBla]

Colbert is the latest soon-to-be-forgotten king of Moonbattia (he swill have shared this this noble stage with Mike Moore, Sheehan, etc). It is kind of weird that these lefties feel somehow vindicated by a stand up schtick at a media event, guess it shows how bad things have become for them.

[ed]

Hmmm.

1. Frankly I thought Colbert wasn't funny at all. And I usually enjoy Colbert's wit on his tv show, but this wasn't any good.

2. What I think would have been incredibly hilarious is if President Bush had whipped out a newspaper and started reading that while Colbert was up there trying to skewer him.

[Sue]

This is drill for field trips.

Bwahahahahaha!

[Lesley]

Kim

This got me laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes: "he (Joseph Wilson) sported a Palm Beach–style untucked Hawaiian shirt"

What is Chris Lehmann trying to tell us? That Joe was wearing the tasteful, sophisticated, GQ version of the Hawaiian shirt as opposed to the tasteless, unsophisticated, non-GQ version?

Little did I know there was even a distinction! Hee.

[Other Tom]

AB--We'll settle for the White House, the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court. You'll have to make do with Al Franken. Isn't Al a laff riot? When I check his ratings against those of Rush Limbaugh, it's a real thigh-slapper.

[owl]

I think he pretty much did what he normally does everynight on his show...only difference is that the President was in the room.

Bingo! And from that point is where the discussion begins....

The price of the ticket was FUNNY. Bush delivered pokes at himself (some funny, some not) but Colbert delivered EMBARRASSMENT for all.

The anti-Bush crowd is consistent in wanting all traditional manners shucked. It has created an enviroment that keeps feeding upon itself. Now.....if you buy a ticket to a comedy....you get full fledged political war.

I suggest that at the next Political Rally Funeral they add jumping-leaping cheerleaders. Maybe we could all agree it would be hilarious if the next Political Rally held in the Dem's black churches added new costumes for the choir......let's have bikinis. I have more.....

[AB]

Other Tom, I LOVE that cocky bravado! It's going to make it so much more satisfying rubbing your noses in the coming defeats. It's nice you can be satisfied with a President destined for historic disgrace, a rubber stamp do-nothing Congress and a Supreme Court dedicated to institutionalizing Presidential Monarchy. But what WILL you do when you don't even have that? Better lock the windows on the top floors.

[Old Dad]

Oh my....bitter, angry, hateful, delusional, rude....

AB is Hillary.

[JohnH]

Bush made fun of himself, which he is expected to do at the dinner, and he sat politely through the roast by Colbert, which he is also expected to do.

So the Left finds deep affirmation of their beliefs because Bush did not laugh heartily at jokes he has heard already a few hundred times?

And to AB this proves that the evil regime is toppling?

There must be more to it than this.