Roast President ala Colbert

[Preacher's Kid]

Amazing.

You may have heard about that double-bush gag at the White House Correspondents' dinner a few days ago (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4959380.stm ) but there's been an odd lack of reporting over the 20 minute or so keynote address by Stephen Colbert which came later.

If you're not familiar with Colbert, he was a 'reporter' on Jon Stewart's Daily Show, and now has a fake pundit show called the Colbert Report, on which he plays a very conservative Bush booster whose opinions make Bill O'Reilly look soft.

The speech he gave, with Bush sitting 10 FEET AWAY is the ballsiest, most fist-pumping thing I've seen lately. Just watch it.

(3 parts)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lcIRXur61II& ... ert%20bush (starts with a dull intro)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HN0INDOkFuo& ... ert%20bush
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rJvar7BKwvQ& ... ert%20bush

[Duggeh]

None of that is funny. Sometimes the humour gulf over the atlantic amazes me.

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IMAGE:www.macintyre42.plus.com/images/tb2-100.jpg
Duggeh: Master Of Ceremonies

[Frank]

I'm afraid I wasn't amused by any of what I saw either. There may have been a laugh or two in there, but after watching the first one I really didn't feel like shooting myself, I mean watching more.

Frank

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"There is only ever one truth. Things are always black or white, there's no such thing as a shade of grey. If you think that something is a shade of grey it simply means that you don't fully understand the situation. The truth is narrow and the path of the pursuit of truth is similarly narrow."

[novium]

it's not that I think. None of it made me laugh. I think you would have to be really partisan to find it hilarious- I don't mean they were necessarily bad...it's just that he basically took the last 5 years of late night talk show political one liners and stuffed them all in one speech. Heard 'em before, and they weren't all that funny the first time around. I mean, amusing when they were current events. But unlike clinton jokes, they just go stale pretty quickly.

on edit: and clinton jokes are funny because they're just sex jokes. They aren't so political and current-event based.

Quoting Duggeh from 04:51, 2nd May 2006
None of that is funny. Sometimes the humour gulf over the atlantic amazes me.

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IMAGE:www.macintyre42.plus.com/images/tb2-100.jpg
Duggeh: Master Of Ceremonies

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sed tamen ira procul absit, cum qua nihil recte fieri, nihil considerate potest.

[Sid]

Yeah I have to admit I didn't find it that funny either and I'm a fan of the Colbert Report. Bit of a disappointment really. I suppose he was nervous and he did have to be careful how he tread.

[Preacher's Kid]

I'm a bit surprised at the reaction here. I, too, found very little of this funny. But was humor really the aim here? In the past, headlines have been made by a single reporter or 'town hall' participant having the guts to ask Bush or his cronies direct questions without worrying about upsetting the Presidential Aura. Colbert stuck it to the Prez in front of a crowd of DC Worthies.

I mean, the jokes about wiretapping or secret eastern European prisons don't make me laugh at all. There's a good reason: they are actual and recent government actions. The chill which settles over the audience by the end of the speech (Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, and, weirdly, Antonin Scalia excepted) is exactly what was intended.

[L Smith]

In my opinion, Colbert was fantastic... however, I definitely think he is an acquired taste. He has a huge following in the press corps and his fan base includes members from the extreme left and the extreme right. (Yes, even reporters from Fox News really like him!) Although I live in St Andrews now, I keep up with Washington politics religiously -- and knowing exactly what Colbert is referencing (and being a Washingtonite myself) does a lot to make his humor extremely appealing.

Also, entertainers booked for this dinner are usually done so with the intent that they are going to make fun of present guests. (The major recent exception being Ray Charles in 2003. He was a complete flop and people talked all through his performance.) Colbert -- who is known for making fun of politicians and reporters alike -- was a perfect fit. The cameras may not have picked up on it, but the room was actually filled with laughter throughout most of Colbert's routine -- which is saying something given that it is a huge ballroom seating around 3,000 people. The audience comprises of White House journalists first and foremost, and secondarily, of their politician guests. (Of course, a few odd celebrities land invites every year too, but they are in no way the majority.) The type of humor that they are expecting IS of a political and current event nature. It is the one public occasion per year where politicians and reporters come together and make fun of the year's events. (The Gridiron dinner known for its hilarious politician-reporter skits and overwhelming length is an entirely off-the-record dinner.)

Furthermore, I don't know if the cameras (c-span, msnbc) covering the event actually covered any of Bush's reactions to Colbert. Being at the front table, I can assure you that he was laughing at nearly every joke. (Which is also saying something because believe it or not, it is very difficult to hear what a speaker is saying up at the podium from the head table.)

Overall, I think the dinner was a great success. The comedy from Stephen Colbert as well as from Bush/Bridges a la writer Landon Parvin was exactly what was expected by WHCA guests and was precisely the type of humor that the press corps enjoys. I’ll just be really interested to see who WHCA VP Steve Scully has headlining next year’s dinner!

[Altheia]

I think part of the reason I found this so funny is because, as an American from a very conservative state, I've actually grown up having to watch the Bill O'Reilly-esque crap that's on TV. Like the last poster said, knowing what Stephen Colbert is referencing makes it a hell of a lot funnier, especially because he's able to do it with such a straight face and in a room full of the people he's eviscerating. I personally found it hilarious, and had a hard time not cracking up in public while watching it. Especially at the whole "...if anything, they're rearranging deck chairs on the HINDENBERG" joke. Heh. Everyone loves a good flaming dirigible joke, am I right?

Seriously, though, I think part of the humour is having had to watch the news shows whose hosts are basically like Colbert's persona, but completely serious. And I think the other part of the humour is the fact that it really was NOT covered in the mainstream media. Liberal bias, my arse.

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When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. - Mark Twain