Stephen Colbert

Yesterday in her New York Times op-ed column, Maureen Dowd presented one of her signature imaginary dialogues. But instead of imagining her own little Sunday morning playhouse production about the head of Lehman Brothers talking to the Monopoly Guy on a bread line or whatever, she outsourced the effort to her ex-boyfriend, West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin.

This isn't the first time Ms. Dowd has relied on someone else to write her column: On October 14, 2007, she had Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert write I Am an Op-Ed Columnist (And So Can You!) for her.   read more »

News now from Comedy Central (via Stereogum) that the Colbert Report will be puttin’ on one hell of a Christmas special this year. The November 23rd show will feature Feist, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Willie Nelson, even “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” Toby Keith—all singing tunes written by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger. Except for Feist and Keith, each will sing accompanied by Colbert himself, and all will take part in the show’s own rendition of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” Here’s what Santa’s bringing this year:

• "Another Christmas Song" – Stephen Colbert
• "Have I Got A Present For You" – Toby Keith
• "Little Dealer Boy" – Stephen Colbert and Willie Nelson
• "Hannukah" – Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart
• "Nutmeg" – Stephen Colbert and John Legend
• "Please Be Patient" – Feist
• "There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In" – Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello
• "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" – Stephen Colbert, Elvis Costello, Feist, Toby Keith, John Legend and Willie Nelson

The photos from the already-taped episode—one of Feist in an angel custom blowing Stephen a kiss, the other of Colbert and Costello at the piano (the former looking like Lawrence Welk, the later like Abe Lincoln)—are just priceless.  read more »

Governor David Paterson is set to appear on the Colbert Report tomorrow, according to his official schedule.

Paterson's predecessor Eliot Spitzer appeared on the show, and tried to out-funny the faux-conservative anchor, leading to a profoundly unamusing segment.

In practical terms, it should be a chance for Paterson to grab some of the national exposure he sort of missed out on at the Democratic convention last week, at which a) Chuck Schumer forgot to introduce him at a breakfast in front of the New York delegation, b) he was reportedly asked to focus his 4 p.m. convention remarks on people with disabilities rather than the economy, his hot issue back home, and c) he got edged out of CNN's camera shot during Hillary Clinton's big moment on the floor during roll call.

Last week, Media Mob offered a flashback of the late Stephanie Tubbs Jones appearance on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. In presenting that clip, we praised Congresswoman Tubbs Jones for her good comedic timing in her interview with Mr. Colbert.

Last night, Mr. Colbert paid tribute to the late Congresswoman by showing some great footage of her improvising an imaginary courtroom show called Judge Tubbs with him. In the bit, a defendant named Bramlet Abercrombie (played by Mr. Colbert) sued his girlfriend, Sharon Applebaum (Mr. Colbert again) for setting his couch "afire."

Playing herself, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones nailed it.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Democratic representative of Ohio's 11th district, died yesterday from a ruptured brain aneurysm at age 58. The Associated Press, CNN, CBS, Fox News and The Washington Post jumped the gun, reporting that Congresswoman Tubbs Jones had died several hours before her doctors confirmed the news.

On Nov. 3, 2005, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones appeared on Comedy Central's then-nascent Colbert Report in the third part of his 435-part series, "Better Know a District."

Mr. Colbert's show had only been on a few weeks, so his blustery persona was still developing: In the taped segment, his hair appears cow-licked; his suit not yet sharply tailored.  read more »

Tonight, HBO will air a documentary by Rory Kennedy about White House press room mainstay Helen Thomas called Thank You, Mr. President. While less sexy than other HBO fare such as Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal and probably less controversial than Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, it promises to offer journalism buffs some insight into Ms. Thomas' incredible 47-year (and still going strong) career.

The New York Times' Susan Stewart says:

Ms. Kennedy, who conducted the interview at her mother’s Hickory Hill estate, doesn’t ask the kind of hard-hitting questions that her subject is known for and never brings up the more extreme statements Ms.  read more »

Last night, Bill O'Reilly tried to prove that viewers of The O'Reilly Factor are more intelligent than those of his satirical nemesis Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report.

"Little Stevie Colbert's ratings have been flat lately, even though he's gotten increasingly nasty. And a recent article in The San Francisco Chronicle that Colbert's audience is smarter than the Factor audience," Mr. O'Reilly said. "Of course, that is false."

As Mr. O'Reilly continued, "According to a Pew Research study, a whopping 83 percent of Factor viewers have a high or moderate knowledge of current events, as opposed to 79 per cent for little Stevie.  read more »

Representative Carolyn Maloney was the lucky guest on Stephen Colbert's recurring feature, "Better Know a District," talking about accents, Central Park, and her new book, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.

Last night on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert waxed Keith Olbermannian and earnestly refused to mock Robert Novak for his hit-and-run assault on a homeless pedestrian because the syndicated columnist has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

"Wow," the host said after wishing Mr. Novak well. "I'm pretty impressed with myself right now." Adding, "I am deeply moved by me."

With the time blocked out for a segment about Novak, Mr. Colbert was forced to improvise, leaving him feeling like "I'm up on a high wire with my junk flapping in the breeze." The next three minutes were taken up with fake phone calls praising his restraint and asking Mr. Colbert if he'd do the same for Ted Kennedy ("That is completely different!") and plugging The Colbert Report's Special Report, "Silent Night: Stephen Colbert's Heroic Refusal to Discuss Robert Novak."

Yesterday, The Observer's Bharat Ayyar reported on MoveOn.org and rapper Nas' protest outside of Fox News headquarters in Manhattan.

Last night, Nas appeared on The Colbert Report to explain himself. When asked by Mr. Colbert why he thinks Fox is racist, Nas (real name Nasir Jones) said, "It's obvious. Everybody that has eyes and ears can see that this guy [Bill O'Reilly] is out of control. He knows what he's doing, you know what I mean? It's out of line. The things he's saying is worse than the worst rap lyrics I ever heard."

The rapper also told the host, "I think O'Reilly's afraid of me.  read more »

Author Barbara Ehrenreich appeared on The Colbert Report last night to promote her book, This Land Is Their Land and offered a rallying cry for class warriors the world over. "I'm fighting back," she said. "But the other side started the war."

"We've had too many employers, say like Wal-Mart, who've made huge amounts of money by squeezing down their workers, not letting them form unions, for example, holding down their wages."

Ms. Ehrenreich got in a few good jabs at Mr. Colbert, asking him how much he paid his security guards ("What are they paid? I would be surprised if they got more than $12-an-hour.  read more »

Today is Bloomsday, that time-honored literary commemoration involving college professors, former English majors, and Irish people of the date on which all of the action of James Joyce’s Ulysses takes place (June 16, 1904). In New York City every year since 1981, Symphony Space has hosted a marathon Bloomsday event featuring all sorts of famous actors reading from the text, and radio station WBAI has broadcast the performances live on 99.5 FM. But The New York Times brings us news that tonight, for the first time since 1981, the theater and station “will go their separate ways as a result of apprehension about obscenity and government regulation.”  read more »

Today marks the 261st commencement ceremony at Princeton University. Yesterday marked the day the esteemed Ivy gave an award to Stephen Colbert.  read more »

Tomorrow night marks the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. Members of the press corps (including some Media Mob contributors who are already on their way—note low posting rate today!) will have a chance to clink glasses with the president and his cabinet and remind themselves that despite five years of war, an economy some are already calling a Depression, and a painful slog of an election season, it's all in good fun. L'chaim! To us!

This year's event will be emceed by CBS Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson, whom the W.H.C.A.'s president (and ABC News correspondent), Ann Compton, is really excited about: "Craig Ferguson is a fresh take on late night TV. As a new citizen, a first-time uncommitted voter and someone who has looked at American politics from the outside, I am looking forward to his unique take on our system."

   read more »

Is Chris Matthews serious about running for Arlen Specter's Senate seat? When asked if he planned to run for office on last night's Colbert Report, the host of MSNBC's Hardball was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. In fact, to watch the video, he looked momentarily stricken.

The Huffington Post quotes Mr. Matthews as telling Mr. Colbert, "Did you ever want to be something your whole life, besides this? When you grow up, some kids want to be a fireman. I want to be a Senator."  read more »

In case you missed it, here's Eliot Spitzer on the Colbert Report Monday night, taking some advice about who to appoint to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat if she is elected president.

Tonight, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are set to return to Comedy Central, albeit without their writers, who remain out on strike.

And without certain guests, such as Katrina vanden Heuvel and Naomi Klein who recently turned down invitations to appear on the show.

Those authors, actors, and politicians who do accept invitations to be on the shows on Monday will be forced to cross a picket line.  read more »

The Media Mob has learned that Naomi Klein, the liberal Canadian author (most recently of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism) recently turned down an invitation to appear on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, which is set to return to the air, sans striking writers, on Monday, Jan. 7.

Yesterday, we reported that Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, had likewise refused to cross the picket lines to appear on the show.  read more »

On Monday, Jan. 7, following in the footsteps of Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will return to the airwaves without their shows' writers, who remain on strike. Which guests will cross the picket line to appear on the first night back for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report?

Not Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, who this afternoon told Media Mob that she had recently turned down Mr. Colbert's invitation to appear on his Jan. 7 show.

She said that she loved The Colbert Report but that she is "standing in solidarity with the striking writers."  read more »

Now we can truly witness how clever Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are on their cable news satire shows. They'll be returning to their daily recordings on Jan. 7. The announcement arrives just days after their network predecessors announced their return to late-night on Jan. 2.

The New York Times reports:  read more »

There may be no end in sight to the writers strike, but the late-night shows could soon be back on the air anyway.

The Writers Guild said over the weekend that it would be willing to sign individual agreements with media companies, and the independent company that owns The Late Show with David Letterman said it plans to take advantage of that move to work towards a deal, according to several reports.  read more »

Ouch!

TV Decoder reports that the writers' strike has already delivered a nasty lashing to Comedy Central’s smirk-some duo, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

   read more »

It felt like a huge sorority reunion at the party before Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year Awards at Avery Fisher Hall on Monday, Nov. 5.  read more »

Last evening, as the writers' strike got into full swing and late-night talk shows halted production, one comedian found a venue for his work. Stephen Colbert was tapped to introduce House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Glamour's Women of the Year awards, where she received special recognition from the Conde Nast title. So for one night, the only people watching Mr. Colbert were in the packed Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. To read the text of Mr. Colbert's introduction--in which he displays a suspiciously comprehensive knowledge of current women's fashion--click through to the jump.  read more »

"Stephen Colbert" has become one of the most richly textured characters on television. Sadly, none of that makes I Am America (And So Can You!) worth reading.  read more »

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein was on the Colbert Report last night talking about the city's plan to pay public school students for academic success. The controversial issue was put through the critical analysis that only Comedy Central can offer. You can watch the video over here.

Colbert: You can invest that money in nerds to do your term paper in eighth grade.

Klein: I have a better idea. You can actually, if you do well in seventh grade, you can actually do your own term papers in the eighth grade. That’s what this is all about.

Colbert: Mmm hmmm.

Klein: You’re not interested in that? No? But our kids will be.

Colbert: I think money is a labor-saving device for me.

Klein: It is, but for our kids, I’m trying to enable them to raise money when they get out of school.

And later, this exchange:

Colbert: I’m going to drive up the price right now. I will pay $600 a year for seventh graders to come to my house to smoke cigarettes and play violent video games. Will you match my offer? Will you match my offer, or don’t you care about New York’s kids, Joel Klein, if that is your name?

Klein: I’m willing to play this game. Just remember one thing. I got Michael Bloomberg on my side. 

 

Before Gary Coleman arrived for autographs, before Wonder Woman waylaid Stephen Colbert, before a tr  read more »

If you missed Bill O'Reilly's appearance on the Stephen Colbert Show last night, here's a snippet of the exchange towards the end.

BO I'm not a tough guy. This is all an act.

SC You're breaking my heart.

BO You know, I'm sensitive, I'm -

SC If you're an act, then what am I?

More of that surreal interview here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a clip of John Hall's appearance on last night's Colbert Report.

About half-way through the interview, host Stephen Colbert told the novice politician, "You have actually got a shot in this race. You might actually win. And I oppose everything you stand for. But you were willing to talk to me and your opponent, Sue Kelly, was not. So let's move your numbers right here. Let's smear your opponent."

That's when the "smear cards" come out.

Let that be a lesson. Even fake reporters need to get their interviews.

-- Azi Paybarah

The Colbert Report's Better Know a District segment profiles New York's 11th, and while funny, our only complaint is that Major Owens didn't drop a rhyme for us.

—Nicole Brydson

Two Presidents Do Not Make a Right   To the Editor:    read more »

Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger   To the Editor:    read more »

Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger

To the Editor:  read more »

Stephen Colbert was asked, just after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Ap  read more »

Stephen Colbert was asked, just after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April  read more »

BEGUN AND HELD IN THE TRANSOM'S TINY MESSY OFFICE AT 915 BROADWAY, 9TH FLOOR, ON THE FOURTH OF MAY, TWO THOUSAND AND SIX.

WHEREAS, for too long, beer-sharing, staff-crossover (we're looking at you, Rebecca Traister and Suzy Hansen) and mutual liberal head-nodding has taken place between the staffs of the New York Observer and Salon.com, and;

WHEREAS, Salon.com Editor in Chief Joan Walsh thinks that Observer D.C. correspondent Chris Lehmann eats babies, or at least is one of the "apologists for the status quo" for his story in this week's paper which roasts D.C. and its press corp lifers, and;

WHEREAS, Ms. Walsh also calls Mr. Lehmann's wife, Ana Marie Cox, one of the "pathetic prisoners of the Beltway" (she's actually allowed to pathetically venture up and down the seaboard, let it be known), and;

WHEREAS Ms. Walsh's piece is the third attempt by Salon--on the heels of "Colbert's Smart Bomb" and "The Truthiness Hurts"--to argue for what is supposed to be a self-evident proposition, thereby undermining itself by its own being, and;

WHEREAS, Salon's interstitial ads confront would-be users with the message "Good commercials are as rewarding as the Salon journalism they support," with which they must choose to "Agree" or "Disagree," leaving the user in a desperate Tron-world binary conundrum of surely unintended ironies in which disagreement loops back around to agreement, and;

WHEREAS, Ms. Walsh cannot perceive what Observer senior editor Tom Scocca has since dubbed The Inverse Dean Scream Effect—the inverse part being that the Dean Scream made total contextual sense to those in attendance at that long-ago post-caucus rally in Iowa but only appeared ludicrous in endless media transmissions, whereas Stephen Colbert's White House Correspondents Association Dinner routine was hilarious and sense-making in transcript yet not, according to attendees such as Mr. Lehmann, really at all funny in person, and;

WHEREAS, we are all equally fucked now that the Washington Post's Richard Cohen has finally arrived to the party to complain about Mr. Colbert's "rudeness" toward Our Commander in Chief, thereby retroactively conjuring into being that same thin-skinned and comedy-deficient Washington Press Corps Reaction whose existence had been the subject of dispute, thus leaving this topic as dead as a minimum of 34,711 Iraqi civilians, still, then;

NOW therefore be it resolved that The Transom hereby executes an Authorization of Use of Military Force against Salon.com.

The Colbert Report may be the best show on television, but when 60 Minutes flacked the show last night it abandoned its responsibility and didn't quiz Colbert about his politics. Morley Safer just chuckled along with Colbert from start to finish, making him out to be some take-on-all-sides entertainer.

That's a dodge. I love Colbert partly because I'm sure he shares my politics. What's my evidence? It's obvious. The left loves him and it should; his ironies are chiefly directed at the right in the same way that Trey Parker's (vicious, sourmaking) comedy is aimed at the left. Also at Saturday night's Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, Colbert's speech, featuring Helen Thomas as the crazily heroic main character, had as its central theme, What are we doing in Iraq? Good question. And it was aimed at the guy three seats away, the President.

Which is to say, Colbert has real power. I don't expect him to want to talk about it, but 60 Minutes let its own fuzzy liberal orientation show when it failed to ask Colbert one genuine question about his politics, and failed to try to talk to his friends and family about his politics.

For those of you left itching for more Stephen Colbert/new Bush twin comedy from last weekend's White House Correspondents' Dinner, a full 105 minutes are available for viewing on CSPAN's site.

Stephen Colbert's routine can also be found at Crooks and Liars.

—Nicole Brydson

In the world's longest Transom: The Murder Inc. trial; Horacio Silva's 40th Birthday; A Drink with Robert A. M. Stern; Partying with The Architects' Newspaper; and Stephen Colbert and Ashleigh Banfield sell out their sources. TV news, which rose to the challenge of its medium in Vietnam, has utterly failed, 30 years later, in the coverage of Iraq.

In 1996, Rent and Andrew Sullivan both declared the AIDS crisis to be over. But were they both wrong?

Simon Doonan is freaked out by Paris Hilton's monkey.  read more »

Nabokov's son really is going to burn his father's last unfinished book.

How Bob Woodward is a sell-out.

Time to hit the blogs:

Bloomberg's voters were wildly outnumbered... by registered voters who didn't cast ballots, laments Andrew Friedman at DMIBlog.

Doug Forrester, the failed Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, blames his defeat on Bush. But over at the New York Young Republican Record, Rick Brownell doesn't buy it. Forrester's finger-pointing, says the blogger, is "infantile." Or at least, um... unoriginal.

In a post titled "NYC Drifts Right...Upstate Drifts Left?" the Daily Gotham suggests that state Dems have showed up the local party. Urban Elephants grabs the first part of the deadline, trumpets with glee.

The secretive scribes of Backroom Deal Breaker look forward to the Speaker's Debate on Wednesday, demand more public participation, offer a can of whoop ass.

Eliot Spitzer surfaced on Comedy Central, where Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report asked him how much it takes to run a gubernatorial campaign these days. "Probably 30, 40 million dollars," Eliot estimated. "It is almost an obscene amount of money...The reason it's not completely obscene is I'm about to do it, so I don't want to say it's obscene," he added with a laugh.  read more »

Yes, this last item was not so bloggy, and the show aired a week ago. But it's funny enough to merit a look and a link.

The oft-quoted political consultant Hank Sheinkopf has reached the peak of pop culture glory: the Daily Show. In this very funny report on Republican porn star Mary Carey (you can watch the clip here -- click on "Popping the Big Tent"), Sheinkopf tells Stephen Colbert that Democrats need the blacks and the Jews, but "we don't need the pornographers. We can live without 'em."  read more »

The Transom, in its former civilian life, once had the pleasure of accompanying a local magazine's f  read more »