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Stephen Colbert

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Stephen Colbert

Stephen Tyrone Colbert (/koʊlˈbɛɹ/; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian and satirist known for his dramatic style and deadpan comedic delivery. He is most famous for his work on The Daily Show, and as the star of its spin-off, The Colbert Report. The latter is a detournement of personality-driven, politically conservative news and opinion shows, especially Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor and Sean Hannity from Hannity & Colmes.[1] Colbert has been named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people for 2006.[2]

On television, Stephen Colbert the actor plays a character of the same name. This entry refers mostly to the "real" Colbert, and not his distinct, fictional namesake.

Personal life

Stephen Colbert and his wife at the 2006 Time 100, as covered on vlog Rocketboom.

Colbert was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina on James Island, the youngest of eleven children in a Catholic family. When Colbert was 10 years old [3] [4]his father, who was a doctor, and two of his older brothers, died in the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 212[5][6] on September 11, 1974.

He attended Charleston's exclusive Episcopalian Porter-Gaud School. He was formally educated at Northwestern University's School of Speech, to which he transferred from Hampden-Sydney College. He took acting classes at Northwestern; this choice was influenced by his mother and a love of Bill Cosby. While there, he became involved in the improvisation troupe ImprovOlympic. After college he went to work at Second City and participated in improv classes there.[7]

He is married to Evelyn McGee-Colbert, who appeared with him in Strangers with Candy. She played a nurse (uncredited) in the series pilot, as well. The couple has three children, all of whom have appeared on The Daily Show.

Although not particularly political before joining The Daily Show, Colbert is a self-described Democrat.[8] Bill O'Reilly jokingly called for a boycott of The Colbert Report during an interview on The Daily Show, because he assumed that the name Colbert was French, "proving" that his satirical clone was a Frenchman.[9] Colbert is in fact often an Irish surname(though of French Huguenot/Norman origin).[10] The association of his name as French may stem from the Colbert Report short that first appeared on The Daily Show, in which Colbert (after the announcer pronounces the name with a silent "t") states, "It's French...bitch!" The silent "t," however, predates this scene.

Career in comedy

Colbert is an alumnus of The Second City comedy troupe and had a short stint on Good Morning America.[11] He was formerly a performer and writer on Exit 57 as well as Strangers with Candy, where he also held executive producer credit. Briefly, he served as a writer for Saturday Night Live, where he later returned to voice the character Ace in Robert Smigel's The Ambiguously Gay Duo (the other member of the duo, Gary, was voiced by fellow Daily Show alumnus Steve Carell). He was a cast member and writer on The Dana Carvey Show. He also regularly performs as a voice actor on Cartoon Network's Harvey Birdman (part of the Adult Swim lineup), appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and appeared in the Mr. Goodwrench commercials for General Motors. He coauthored the novel Wigfield with ex-Strangers With Candy costars Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. He has provided voices for Comedy Central's Crank Yankers.

File:Stephen Colbert TDS.png
Colbert as "Senior Washington Correspondent" on The Daily Show

Colbert on The Daily Show

Some memorable segments he has appeared in for The Daily Show have included "Even Stephven" with Steve Carell, and "This Week in God." Memorable reports include the 2001 "break-up" of the Republicans "Singing Senators" following the defection of Jim Jeffords, and the report on Prince Charles and the British media reporting of royal family scandals through suggestive innuendo. In a few episodes of The Daily Show, Colbert filled in as anchor in the absence of Jon Stewart, including the full week of March 3, 2002 when Stewart was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live that weekend. On one occasion, guest interviewee Al Sharpton failed to arrive for the taping, so Colbert filled in as Sharpton.[12] Since Colbert left the show, the duty of filling in for Stewart has been assumed by Rob Corddry. Corddry has also taken over "This Week in God" segments.

Other roles

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The trademark of his voicework in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law as Phil Ken Sebben, founder of the law firm of Sebben & Sebben, is a "Ha Ha!" followed by a humorous remark relevant to the scene. (For example: "My office! - Burgled, plundered, purloined! Ha Ha! - Loins...") Colbert also voices prosecuting lawyer Reducto.

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Phil Ken Sebben
Colbert also puts in an excited effort playing numerous roles, such as Birdman's hypersexual boss Phil and the size-obsessed attorney Myron Reducto. According to one commentary, he literally ran around the recording studio shouting his lines.[13]

Colbert appeared in the big screen adaptation of Bewitched. He also guest-starred as an expert forger and murderer in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as an annoying tourist going to see The Producers on Broadway in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Colbert also had a brief stint doing commercials for GM Goodwrench Service Plus, as a man with a microphone who travels to GM Goodwrench locations across the country, searching for "Mr. Goodwrench."

Colbert portrayed the letter Z in Sesame Street: All-Star Alphabet, a 2005 video release, opposite Nicole Sullivan as the letter A.

The Colbert Report

Main article: The Colbert Report
File:Colbert on notice board.jpg
Colbert with his "On Notice" board, on The Colbert Report.

Since October 17, 2005, Colbert has produced and hosted his own television show, The Colbert Report, a parody of celebrity anchor news commentary shows like The O'Reilly Factor and Scarborough Country. Colbert is credited as the show's executive producer, along with The Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Colbert performs the entire show in the character of a blustery right-wing pundit; this character's openly declared, irrational fear and hatred of bears is a popular running joke on the show. Comedy Central signed a long-term contract for The Colbert Report within its first month on the air, when it immediately established itself among the network's highest-rated shows.

In January 2006, the American Dialect Society named as its 2005 Word of the Year: truthiness, which Colbert featured on the premiere episode of the Report.[14] Colbert devoted time on five successive episodes to bemoaning the failure of the Associated Press to mention his role in popularizing the word truthiness in its news coverage of the Word of the Year, despite the American Dialect Society giving him the credit.

2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner

Main article: Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
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Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner
Wikinews has related news:

On Saturday, April 29, 2006, Stephen Colbert was the featured entertainer for the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, delivering a 24-minute speech and video presentation which was broadcast on C-SPAN and MSNBC. In his faux-politically conservative character from The Colbert Report, Colbert satirized the Bush administration and the White House press corps with such lines as:

"I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound—with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world."

The performance received a lukewarm response from the audience, and major media outlets paid little attention to it initially, hardly even mentioning it. On his show Hardball on MSNBC, Chris Matthews called the performance 'bad.' However, the video of Colbert's speech became an overnight internet sensation[15] and ratings for The Colbert Report soared 37% in the week following the speech.[16] After four days of near silence, the press began to recognize Colbert's speech with mixed reactions. Some thought that the speech went "over the line." Others, like Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, found it unfunny, while others still thought that Colbert delivered a magnificent performance akin to Harry Taylor's criticism of Bush. Despite the media response, Colbert's speech continued to gain popularity, ultimately becoming the #1 download on iTunes.[17]

Trivia

Personal

  • Colbert was an avid fantasy RPG player as an adolescent, a pastime to which he partly attributes his interest in acting. He was known to be an enthusiast of Lord of the Rings and the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons, a fascination that began in high school.[18][19] When Viggo Mortensen appeared on The Daily Show, a sound-clip was played of Colbert reciting the detailed lineage and personal history of Mortensen's character, Aragorn. To reciprocate, Mortensen sent Colbert a platter of Lord of the Rings characters molded in chocolate. Stewart quipped that the gift would give Colbert a "four-hour erection."[20] Later, on June 7, 2006, Colbert noticed that CNN had, in its coverage of June 6 (6/6/06) put the picture of a Balrog in place of a devil. He spent a minute describing the difference between devils and Balrogs: "A devil is a fallen angel who refused to follow God and followed Satan into Hell; Balrogs are Maiar who refused to follow Eru and followed Morgoth into Thangorodrim."
  • Colbert is deaf in his right ear, as he has no ear drum in his right ear. "I always wanted to be a marine biologist ... but then I had this ear problem. I have no ear drum. (Flicks his ear.) So I had this operation at the Medical University when I was a kid. Now I can't get my head wet. I mean, I can, but I can't really scuba dive or anything like that. So that killed my marine biology hopes."[21] He once joked to The New Yorker that "I had this weird tumor as a kid, and they scooped it out with a melon baller."[22] On March 16, 2006, Colbert featured a review from Orlando Sentinel columnist Commander Coconut in his "Who's Attacking Me Now?" segment. The review stated that Coconut was unable to pay attention to anything but Colbert's ears, as his right one sticks out slightly. In a call to Coconut regarding the review, Colbert stated that the doctor also noticed it stuck out slightly when he pulled the tumor out. Colbert continued his diatribe for several minutes to the growing mortification of Coconut. After the replay of the phone conversation, however, Colbert stated that he had not in fact had a tumor in his ear.
  • The San Francisco Zoo recently named a baby bald eagle after Colbert. He features clips of the bird occasionally on his show.

Professional life

Quotes

Wikiquote has quotations related to Stephen Colbert.
  • "There's nothing wrong with stretching the Truth. We stretch taffy, and that just makes it more delicious."
  • "If Truth Beauty and Beauty Truth, then I look beautiful tonight."
  • "I am the Walrus. Goo goo ga Truth."
  • "Hey kid, wanna get morally high?"
  • "Congressmen are gonna need a hell of a name. Something bold. Something sexy. Something with a little more zazz than F.E.M.A. Here’s what I propose: the Storm, Accident and Viral Emergency Unconditional Relief-Support and Emendation of Loss Federation (S.A.V.E. U.R.S.E.L.F.)"
  • “When you’re hiking, you put this little bell on your clothes and it jingles. That makes the bears think it’s Christmas, which they hate because they are godless killing machines.”
  • "Some say, 'Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.' I say, 'Those who ignore history are in for a big surprise.'"
  • "When I think about the truth, I touch myself!"

From the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner

  • “But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.”
  • “Though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Jew or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.”
  • (Expressing his awe in standing next to President Bush, and referring to the Dick Cheney hunting incident)
    "To be this close to the man [Bush]. I feel like I'm dreaming. Somebody pinch me. You know what, I'm a pretty sound sleeper, that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face. Is he really not here tonight? Dammit. The one guy who could have helped."
  • (Referring to Reverend Jesse Jackson)
    "Very interesting and challenging interview. You can ask him anything, but he's going to say what he wants, at the pace that he wants. It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is."
  • "Every night on my show, The Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, okay? I give people the truth unfiltered by rational argument; I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term."
  • "I believe that the government that governs best is the government that governs least, and by these standards, we have a set up a fabulous government in Iraq."
  • "Nothing satisfies you [reporters]... everybody asks for personnel changes, so the White House has personnel changes. And then you write, 'oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.' First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking, this administration is soaring! If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!"

See also

References

  1. ^ The truthiness hurts from Salon.com
  2. ^ http://www.time.com/time/2006/time100/
  3. ^ http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=336825
  4. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/magazine/25questions.html
  5. ^ http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR75-09.pdf
  6. ^ http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Aviation/Disasters/74-09-11(Eastern).asp
  7. ^ http://www.avclub.com/content/node/44705
  8. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,677356_3%7C21904%7C%7C0_0_,00.html
  9. ^ The Daily Show, 17 October 2005
  10. ^ http://www.one-name.org/profiles/colbert.html#origin
  11. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/arts/television/04come.html?ex=1272859200&en=b6c08495dff51300&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
  12. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/candy/2001-12-19-candy.htm
  13. ^ http://dvd.ign.com/articles/605/605194p1.html
  14. ^ http://www.vsocial.com/video/?l=5737
  15. ^ http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-6068398.html
  16. ^ http://www.nypost.com/business/65595.htm
  17. ^ "That After-Dinner Speech remains a favorite dish". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-05-22.
  18. ^ http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dungeons-dragons-online/537989p1.html
  19. ^ http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/433/433111p1.html
  20. ^ http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=23494
  21. ^ http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83674&section=hiprofile
  22. ^ http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/050725ta_talk_remnick
  23. ^ Time magazine 100 Most Influential People of 2006
  24. ^ http://www.knox.edu/x12547.xml
  25. ^ [1]


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