Stephen Colbert and the Death of "The Room"

[wtmusic]

Was he funny or not? Days after Stephen Colbert performed at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, this has become the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006—like whether you drive a hybrid or use the term "freedom fries."

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But I think that the people who said Colbert bombed reveal less about their political leanings than about their understanding of the media culture we live in now. The reason they think he flopped, of course, is that he didn't get many big laughs in the room.

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In other words, what anyone fails to get who said Colbert bombed because he didn't win over the room is: the room no longer matters. Not the way it used to. The room, which once would have received and filtered the ritual performance for the rest of us, is now just another subject to be dissected online.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/2006/05/stephen_colbert.html?promoid=rss_tuned_in

The room may have died...but the buzz lives on :headbang:

[Eric J in MN]

1. Colbert got loud laughs during the first half,

and if the laughs were quieter as he hit Bush harder during the second half, whatever.

[wtmusic]

3. Colbert would have given the same performance

whether they laughed or whether they tried to boo him off the stage.

The many people who expected light-hearted entertainment got scathing political commentary instead. He was 100% alone up there. It takes some serious confidence and talent to do what he did.

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

26. Some Americans need a laugh track to tell them what's funny

[Drum]

2. Just like the WH press briefings....

It isn't the room, per se, but the broadcast opportunity from the room that matters anymore. In both the dinner and the briefings, the other humans in "the room" are just extras.

[bookman]

4. He was a lot funnier...

...than the other two guys who look alike doing their comedy routine.

[evlbstrd]

5. It was a tough room, as comics say.

But he was brilliant.

[wtmusic]

25. Yup

Diverse crowds, especially when there is discord on the subject matter itself, are a tough nut to crack. Didn't matter one iota.

[unschooler]

6. He got a lot of big loud laughs in OUR FAMILY ROOM!

The real room is out here. In TV land.

[rooboy]

7. Yeah...."those WMD have got to be in here somewhere" is WAY funnier.

:sarcasm:

[IChing]

8. Bill Hicks one of America's greatest comics played tough rooms

He didn't give a fuck if they didn't get it at that time.
Watch him and listen to the crowd he was 15-20 ahead of his time.

Andy Kaufman also went "too far" to social niceties, sometimes it takes time to understand a true artist's work.

[cyclezealot]

9. It was a skewed crowd.

He hit at the fact the media is lapdogs for Bush and power. Mostly useless shills who should just use spellcheck. Some have a hard time laughing at oneself. In fact, I thought the speech hilarious, but was in sorta shock mode that in this thought controlled society, anyone could say that . The question might be, what kind of humor was this. Slapstick like Bush performs or something far more internal that requires digestion. Such types of humor brings about different responses.

[grasswire]

10. I believe C-span altered the audio.

I watched an ABC tape of Colbert's entire presentation. There is laughter throughout, even at some of the harshest jokes. I believe the public has been hoodwinked by some audio tricks. Wouldn't be the first time!

[Junkdrawer]

14. Kinda like the volume control in the skit n/t

[Cha]

29. Shame on c-span

then!

[rman]

11. the room, that's us

[radwriter0555]

12. Not one single WORD he uttered was FUNNY. It was tragic & horrific that

our nation must resort to a teevee personality to look the US president dead in the eye and tell him point blank what an atrocious, treasonous, lying, corrupt, criminal, cheater, thug, mass murdering, genocidal, homicidal war criminal he is.

It's NOT funny that the media ever present in the room was and REMAINS part and parcel of and the very epitome of what is wrong with the USA under its present day regime.

There was no humor in rubbing the presidents' and the media's face in the endless piles of shit they've festered and fostered on the rubble of what was once known as America and the US Constitution.

And I applaud Stephen Colbert for having the guts to look these pathetic excuses for human beings right in the eye and telling them exactly what they should have heard since November 2000.

[sendero]

16. My point exactly..

... it's easy to make comedy out of stuff that's really funny, there is nothing funny about what is happening to our country and the reasons why.

I find the whole question of "was it funny"? to be ridiculous. Yes, it was funny at times but who gives a crap. It's purpose was NOT to make anyone laugh.

[wtmusic]

23. He never would have been able to do it without the guise of "comedy"

and that's what is so remarkable about it.

If he had just gone into a rant he would have been pulled from the stage. He not only got the point across, but by presenting it so cleverly he made everyone listen to the whole...f*cking...thing.

Bravo.

[Cha]

28. ZING!

It was an AMAZING time in history..the Plantets and Stars were aligned just right!

[Bushknew]

35. That’s why it’s one greatest American speeches of all time

My personal favorite:

And as excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides of every story, the president's side and the vice president's side.

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in Eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: They're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished.

[Lost4words]

24. radwriter0555 I couldnt agree more.

and everyone in that room should be told this to their faces. If it wasnt for the assistance from the MSM we wouldnt be in this mess now. The MSM is complicit in bringing this chickenhawk sissy brat to power and enabeling him to stay in office IMO!

[yurbud]

13. I first realized this when Bush made his Iraq pitch to the UN...

I expected him to give a more adult and measured presentation than his cartoonish one here, but he gave the nearly identical one met by stony silence.

He wasn't playing to that audience though. He was playing to the knuckledraggers here, just as he was when he told the Palestinian PM God told him to strike Iraq and Afghanistan. Or in that last example he is just fucking insane.

[Ganja Ninja]

15. Who knew terrorists would fly airplanes into the WTC towers?

Who knew Colbert would use brutal sarcasm to lampoon the media and the Bush administration?

See the pattern?
When you live in a closed bubble that excludes anything that doesn't fit into your imaginary world, where reality and common knowledge is ignored, you're bound to have trouble seeing the obvious.

[Crankie Avalon]

17. Maybe some people are so used to watching TV with...

...the canned laughtrack acting as their cue for when they are supposed to find something funny that they've lost the ability to discern humor for themselves.

I think people who can think for themselves and who don't have a reason to feel threatened by anything Colbert was saying found him always on target and often hilarious.

[zippy890]

18. good perspective - the 'room' no longer matters

Colbert is brilliant

[bedazzled]

19. i didn't laugh so much at what he said as from happiness he was saying it

it was amazing to hear clear and honest commentary on some of the atrocities this cabal has perpetrated. i admit that the subject matter in itself was kind of somber. colbert said things that most of us always wanted to say about the abominations we have endured.

i laughed because the bushes were a captive audience and looked unhappy, which makes me happy. i laughed because the freepers would be unhappy, which makes me happy.

and i enjoyed the delivery, which was flawless and exquisite. echoes of mark twain and will rogers danced in my head!

i am still smiling after all this time. thanks, mr. colbert

[Cha]

31. Yeah, I was smiling from

ear to ear! Welcome to DU, bedazzled!

[bedazzled]

34. why thank you! i lurk a lot

but don't have much to say, usually!

[robbedvoter]

20. "The Room" wasn't the audience, but the target. We are the audience

and indeed, the Room is dead, long live the audience!

Bush's routine at the dinner was "Ain't it funny how dumb I am?"

Colbert's routine was "It's not funny how dumb you are."

[AuntiBush]

21. He's the Buzz Here, Still.

And always will be our new folk-hero.

Watched last night. Hope his show stays on. And it was the lack of laughs that was the most telling. Very significant and won't be ignored. Just take a look at how many have thanks him.

:thumbsup: to Colbert.

[derby378]

22. To me, he was fuckin' hilarious all the way through

He is America's newest hero.

[librarycard]

27. I enjoyed the ridicule of Bush's insane policies

but ultimately, Colbert's skit was comic tragedy.

[genieroze]

30. The room was filled with Bushbots.

[daleo]

32. Well, the fool wasn't all that funny in King Lear

But he was the guy that knew what was really going on, and wasn't afraid to say so.

[EstimatedProphet]

33. It's absurd that they could call it a flop

when it's one of the most downloaded videos on the net for the past week. How often does the footage of the WHCD have heavily downloaded footage? It was on C-SPAN, for God's sake! The average American doesn't even know what channel C-SPAN is! And it made the internet news! Some flop!

[cushla_machree]

36. no kidding!

Since when do ANY of us care about the speeches at the white house correspondents dinner! WE DON'T

According to Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, Colbert "was not funny," but the president's routine that night with a Bush impersonator was a 'howl.' You know what was also funny? When bush laughed about those missing WMDs. Now that is comedy!

I am curious though, Mary matalin 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."

So just exactly what were they expecting? That he would tell some politically correct jokes and move on? For those people who say he was not funny, i think it has more to do with what they expect from members of the media and tv personalities. This president is not used to digs, and it is not expected to be dished out within several feet of him. He was absolutely hysterical, and anyone who says contrary either does not understand humor or satire, or just didn't appreciate anything negative. Cheers for Colbert for not ducking out. Having a completely silent room is a good sign, that you have shocked them into reality. The real measure of sucess is not those room full of douche bags, but us here at home. and everyone I know almost fell out of their seats they were laughing so hard.

how is this not funny?

"This administration is not sinking," Mr. Colbert said; "this administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg."


My favorite part was when he tripped on the roller skate and blamed it on condi, like she is just roller skating around the white house all day!