I am not kidding when I tell you that C-Span's finest moment of 2006 occurred this past weekend, unbeknownst to me until a short while ago. All I can say is, somebody is going to be fired, and that somebody is whoever thought it would be a great idea to have Stephen Colbert host the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.
Well, I think it was an amazingly awesome idea, but I'm not sure it turned out so well for...well, the President and all the press correspondents in the audience. All I can say is that Stephen Colbert must have the biggest balls in the world to do what he did. But you can go to YouTube and judge for yourself. That link goes to part 1 of 3--there are links to parts 2 and 3 on that page. It's 20-plus minutes, but it's worth it, trust me. It's worth it just for the incredibly awkward silences during Colbert's post-joke pauses for laughter. Though, personally, I was sitting here in front of my computer in hysterics. Oh, and be sure to watch for the totally random shot of Larry Fishburne.
5 comments:
"...the last third is backwash."
THAT is a very memorable comment. The other thing I liked the best was the montage of journalist voices all running together asking the same questions that haven't been answered...
Stephen Colbert has redifined the word 'roast' and I think nobody expected that he would walk such a thin line here, because American humor isn't usually too comfortable with that uneasiness factor -- not for too long, anyway. Shows like The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, and that type of thing where you're amused yet on the edge of "Make it stop! Make it stop!!!" are hard to pull off. Note how many of them get cancelled! The pauses here are sooo uncomfortable. And then he starts mentioning people by name... and it gets worse.
American politics is so surreal... because it's like a weird polite party where everyone sits around and pretends -- even in war, there are "rules" and everyone pretends to follow them. And then there's Stephen...
Yeah, I'm thinking that whomever hired Stephen, the AP guy? He's so fired.
"I believe democracy is our greatest export. At least until China figures out a way to stamp it out of plastic for three cents a unit." I'm wiping the tears from my eyes here.
You forget how much he really gets away with on his show, until you see him delivering the same material to a less-than-friendly audience. Awkward -- but in a good way, as you say, tadmack.
For those who want to express their love, there's
this
and this.
Awesome links! Funny how those three shows T mentioned are three shows I really, really like...
And the next day, it was gone.
He sent 'Hell to the Chief' and too many people were amused, so YouTube is getting slapped for alleged copyright infringement, and the video is now...
...history.
why am I surprised?
ps - It's still on iFilm.
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