Wolcott, on Colbert's monologue at Correspondents Dinner

[Inland]

You already know if Wolcott liked it or not, right?


http://www.jameswolcott.com/
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A note about the Stephen Colbert monologue at the Correspondents' Dinner that Elisabeth Bumiller seems to have slept through face-down in her entree. No question the stint played better on TV than it did in the room with C-SPAN cutting to gowned lovelies in the audience with glaceed expressions and tuxedo'd men making with the nervous eyes, but to say he "bombed" or "stunk up the place" (Jonah Goldberg's usual elegance) is wishful thinking on behalf of the wishful thinkers on the right, who have nothing but wishful thinking to prop them up during the day.

I know what bombing looks like. It looks like Don Imus when he did a standup monologue before President and Hillary Clinton, and went over so badly that sweat broke out in rivulets down his face and in parts unseen. What triggered the perspiration cascade was a sexual innuendo about how Clinton rooted for his favorite football team by yelling, "Go baby!" at the TV, which Imus remarked was probably not the first time he had voiced such a giddyup--an allusion to Clinton's poontang exploits, if you'll pardon the expression. Imus gave such a crass performance and caused such embarrassment to himself and everybody in the room that there were calls for apologies and he was in danger of being as contaminated as Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson briefly were after their unfortunate blackface episode.

See, that was Colbert's mistake. He didn't slip in any smutty lines. Had he done so, his standup would have been impossible to ignore as the Fox News hotheads would have gone into full outrage mode to defend the honor of Laura Bush and her virgin ears. Instead, Colbert was cool, methodical, and mercilessly ironic, not getting rattled when the audience quieted with discomfort (and resorting to self-deprecating "savers," as most comedians do), but closing in on the kill, as unsparing of the press as he was of the president. I mean no disrespect to Jon Stewart to say that in the same circumstances, he would have resorted to shtick; Colbert didn't. Apart from flubbing the water-half-empty joke about Bush's poll ratings, he was in full command of his tone, comic inflection, and line of attack. The we-are-not-amused smile Laura Bush gave him when he left the podium was a priceless tribute to the displeasure he incurred. To me, Colbert looked very relaxed after the Bushes left the room and he greeted audience members, signed autographs. And why wouldn't he be? He achieved exactly what he wanted to achieve, delivered the message he intended to deliver. Mission accomplished.

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[MadMaddie]

1. It was an amazing performance......

A tall frothy one for Colbert:toast:

[targetpractice]

2. Did he really flub the glass-half-empty joke?

I thought he did that on purpose.

[Greyskye]

13. Yeah, he flubbed it.

But he made a decent recovery by saying in an aside to Bush that it helps to set up your jokes properly.

[robinlynne]

15. That was the joke!

That was absolutely on purpose. he didn't flub anything.

[Greyskye]

16. I disagree, but you might be right.

If it was intentional, it was a completely different type of 'joke' then his character usually does. That's why I interpreted it as a flub. I'll have to go back and watch that part again sometime.

[Us vs Them]

19. He flubbed it (on purpose) just like Bush flubs every analogy he attempts

That's why it was HILARIOUS, and a bit below the belt.

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice.... Fool me once... Fool me can't fool me again!

[yellowcanine]

24. I saw/heard it. It appeared deliberate to me. And yeah, a direct hit on

Bush. It was about that time that Bush finally figured out that what Colbert was doing was not a friendly roast.

[hlthe2b]

3. I've been waiting for Wolcott's review all day....!

As usual, he gets right to the point and says everything I would if I had his eloquence (and command of the "Zinger," per his comment on Bumiller).

[CBHagman]

4. Wolcott may save my sanity.

Tonight on MSNBC I was treated to triple helpings of tut-tutting about Colbert's supposedly ineffective performance from the likes of Mike Allen, Chris Matthews (both on Harball), and even, disappointingly enough, Dana Milbank (on Countdown). Brown noses all round for Bush's "self-deprecating" humor because, gee whiz, he's such a LIKEABLE guy -- as if we'd all imagined the cold calculation, vindictiveness, and manipulation these past five years.

If Colbert induced some squirming and made a few people unhappy, GOOD FOR HIM.

And Wolcott better not stop writing any time soon. Our civilization may depend on it.

[rocktivity]

5. "Laura Bush and her virgin ears?"

The same Laura Bush who joked about Georgie milking a male horse at last year's correspondent's dinner?

:crazy:
rocknation

[chookie]

6. Remember how they gushed over Pickles last year?

For reading some lines about masturbating a horse and visiting a Chippendales with Condi and that Jurassic monster Lynn Cheney. They declared that she had a promising future as a standup comedian :puke: .

"Safe" = lame. Oops -- my sides didn't split over chimpy's routine with his doppelganger. It was better than "where's dem WMDs? Under the bed?" schtick, and Laura's "desperate housewife" shit -- but not by much.

Colbert cut to the bone with wit and style. He had his moment in the lion's den, and he made the most of it. Bless you, Stephan!

[Fovea]

12. He had his moment in the lion's den

And he reports that the lion was delicious!

[Lisa]

17. Dubya's doppelganger basically carried the whole routine ...

Of course, he's a professionally-trained actor (assisted by a talented Hollywood makeup artist, which gives him an edge over other impressionists). To think that, even with this kind of help (and advance planning in the works since January, including speechwriters) -- Bush still barely held up his end.

I look at them, and I can't help thinking about the Gollum/Smeagol scenes in the Lord of the Rings movie! (Bridges has purposely developed his "Mr. President" character to be nicer than the real guy.)

?x=380&y=215&sig=VxB5TEcrQoB4Td8avqijYg--

[Inland]

20. Yeah, but the stuff HE used was all what Bush didn't mind.

You think Bush minds that someone "jokes" about how much he hates the press, for example? Or how little he wants to be there? Most of the "jokes" were really Bush's undisguised contempt for everybody. Bush doesn't mind anyone laughing at that, because it's no skin off his ass. Colbert went for the real roasting on things that the press corp was worried would displease His Commander in Chiefness.

[Lisa]

21. true -- it was a pretty stark contrast between the two performers

(and I mean Bridges and Colbert ... Bush is so unprofessional, he couldn't even be called that!)

I suspect Bush was expecting Colbert to play along, like Bridges did, with a little gentle funning that didn't threaten his sense of superiority. I think it's quite revealing that Barbara Bush said she liked Bridges' routines ... she's ultra-sensitive about anything that questions her little Georgie.

[Inland]

9. Maybe that's all that's left.

Enjoy THAT visual.

[eek]

14. Pickles' mother in law if a famous pottymouth.

we've seen her husband shoot the bird on numerous occ, call people asshole, etc.

virgin ears , indeed.

[ms liberty]

7. Here's the key points, IMO:

"Colbert was cool, methodical, and mercilessly ironic, not getting rattled when the audience quieted with discomfort (and resorting to self-deprecating "savers," as most comedians do), but closing in on the kill, as unsparing of the press as he was of the president."

"To me, Colbert looked very relaxed after the Bushes left the room and he greeted audience members, signed autographs. And why wouldn't he be? He achieved exactly what he wanted to achieve, delivered the message he intended to deliver. Mission accomplished."

He knew exactly what he was doing the whole time...he knew he was "tanking" with the crowd in the room, and he didn't falter one single bit. The flub was early in his routine, it was a simple flub, nothing more.

He went there and accomplished what he set out to do. And he knew it meant something.

The final proof is his show tonight. Everything he said on his show tonight was completely in character - no apologies, no shame. He was well aware of the reaction it was receiving. Jon Stewart was practically speechless with admiration.

[Newkophile]

8. Stewart called Colbert's performance "ballsilicious" n/t

[CBHagman]

10. The Washington Post is in full fawning mode!

Oh, brother. First it was Dana Milbank (BAD Dana! :spank:) bashing Colbert on Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC. Then it was Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger of the Post's Reliable Source column fawning over Bush's self-deprecating humor and condemning Colbert for not having made fun of himself. Now the execrable TV columnist Lisa de Moraes has followed suit. :eyes:

I can't contain myself. These people are Bush's sluts! Note the gratuitous and tasteless "Mission accomplished" at the end.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/01/AR2006050101917.html

The TV Column:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/01/AR2006050101558.html

I realize this is The Washington Post and these people care a good deal more about, say, what darling cocktail dress Jenna or Barbara bought than what happens to people in Nepal or Iraq. But you'd think that five years in, the gushing over Bush's self-deprecating humor would have cooled a bit.

In fact anyone who has observed Bush for a while is perfectly aware that he has a decidedly hostile angle to his humor and uses it to control. His poking fun at himself and his compliments of foreign leaders (going on about how smart Angela Merkel is, for example) come off as shtick at this point, packaged routines that are worse than obtuse and condescending.

[Guaranteed]

11. LOL- I think I remember Colbert hitting them hard, by name,

in his act.

What else could we expect?

[CBHagman]

25. And the mass condemnation continues!

See Richard Cohen's extraordinarily foolish column this morning:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302202.html

[yellerpup]

18. So Laura had that "we are not amused" look

Sorry, but I found her unforgettable anecdote about her husband milking a stallion more tasteless by far than anything Colbert, Imus, or even Howard Stern has come up with yet. That's trash talking.

[AX10]

22. K&R for the truth!

[Sequoia]

23. For all of you wipper snappers born after 1970:

Do you know where that clip of Dan Rather came from in Stephen's fake Press Secretary video? I'm sure you do, but just in case:


"Nixon clashed again with CBS News with millions watching the exchange. It occurred at a Nixon news conference during the election campaign. When Dan Rather, the White House correspondent, arose to question him, boos and cheers rang through the hall. The boos came from Nixon acolytes spread through the room, the cheers from fellow correspondents expressing their support for Dan. As the noise erupted, Nixon, on the stage, looked down at Rather and asked with heavy sarcasm, 'Are you running for something?' Dan, always impulsive, snapped right back, 'No, sir, are you?' More boos, more cheers! Not the most dignified scene at a presidential news conference.
"Dan was in trouble. It is one thing, perfectly legitimate, to challenge a president with tough questions. It is something quite different for a reporter to engage in a sassing contest with the nation's chief executive, no matter how obnoxious and wrong the president may be."
--David Schoenbrun, famed CBS reporter, in his 1989 book, On and Off the Air: An Informal History of CBS News.


http://www.ratherbiased.com/nixon_richard.htm