My family has gotten into the habit of watching the Daily Show, which I enjoy. And my wife and kids often will keep the TV on and watch The Colbert Report.
But I can’t stand that show. I realize that his entire persona is a put-on, but it is an assumed character that I really dislike, so I have no interest in watching it. I’m not sure exactly why I dislike it, but think it has to do with the constant smugness and self aggrandizement. I generally go into the other room and read, but I dislike even hearing the sound of his voice. And try as I might, I don’t find “The Word” funny.
Now I realize I am definitely in the minority, both in my house and within liberal circles. Just wondering if there were any other liberals out there who disliked SC as much as me.
Nah. You’re not the only one. I love The Daily Show and definitely fall into the correct political demographic for the show but I find it generally unentertaining. I won’t go so far as to say I hate it, and there have certainly been interviews and segments that I thought were pretty funny, but on the whole I find the whole schtick pretty tiresome.
Personally I think it’d be funnier as a 5 minute segment on SNL instead of a half-hour punchline, but I won’t deny that Colbert has moments of brilliance as a comic. That speech at the White House Press Dinner was gold.
All-in-all I like the snarkiness of TDS much better that the played-straight satire of Colbert.
This is what I thought when it first came out. I was fully prepared to dislike it, but he won me over. You are right about the occasionally brilliant lines (when interviewing John Bolton he compared him being in charge of departments whose very existence he disagreed with putting Captain Ahab in charge of Save the Whales), I just think most of the rest of lines are pretty damn funny too.
It took me a long time to warm up to it, so I understand where you’re coming from. I found the assumed personality off-putting; what brought me around was watching how subtly but constantly Colbert undermines and outright contradicts the politics of his own persona. The Word makes it explicit, but it’s there all the time. There isn’t a more thoroughly anti-right-wing show on the air, and it’s all the more delicious because of its right-wing trappings.
I also enjoy watching how utterly delighted Colbert is with the whole thing. He cracks himself up, and when he loses his composure it’s hysterical.
Anyway, yeah, I understand not liking it, and if his very voice annoys you, it’s not worth trying to come around.
Well-stated, **Beadalin **- that sums up why I enjoy Colbert. I read an interview of both Stewart and Colbert - Rolling Stone? EW? - where Colbert discussed his concerns about having the whole show be about him being a right-wing jerk, and Stewart replying that he knew the concept would work because Colbert can’t get out of the way of his own basic decency - which of course is a good thing.
So I guess Colbert is kinda like Kirk when he had to act like a barbarian captain in that old Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror? Lordy, I date myself…
That was Jon Stewart, not Stephen Colbert. Colbert probably would have been sad that Bolton quit.
I like Colbert more than I do Stewart, actually. I realize it’s just a character, but he’s rather funny. I enjoy all of the running gags and recurring segments, and Colbert comes out with some very funny lines.
He did some brilliant work on the Daily show, and his ability to roast (the administration at the Press Corps dinner, Chevy Chase on his roast on Comedy Central) is unmatched. It was his bits during the “let’s wait for Florida to report” segments of the 2000 election that made me a Daily Show fan. He did their typical condescending correspondent character better than anyone before or since.
He began doing little bits as a fake conservative pundit on TDS that were OK, not his best work at all, but someone thought that was where the gold was.
I watched the first few episodes of the Colbert Report, and didn’t laugh. Once. I don’t watch it anymore, and when I see ads for it, they use bits from the few episodes I saw. Which leads me to believe it hasn’t gotten any funnier or they’d use more recent material to promote it.
I imagine the reason they use bits from the first few episodes is because they are cheap and don’t want to pay someone to make new clips and new commercials.
The show started good, and has only gotten better since then. It is much better than the Daily Show now IMO. The Daily Show has stopped being… clever…
I think Bill O’Reilly is much funnier than Steven Colbert; plus, he never breaks character or loses composure and starts laughing at himself. His ability to portray a bullish, hyperconservative, know-nothing, hypocritical buffoon is unmatched in all of comedy, and he even exceeds Henry Kissinger–formerly the greatest of self-satirists–in his willingness to dryly lampoon himself. I think–and this is just one man’s opinion–that he does need a segment with puppets making prank calls to members of Congress, maybe the Swedish chef or those two old men in the balcony on The Muppet Show. But in general, the funniest thing on television. Well, except for 24, of course.
They really need to stop showing Fox ‘News’ in the breakroom at work. It’s starting to damage my calm.
I’m glad to hear I’m not alone amongst the liberal crowd (tho it seems we could meet in an elevator!)
My wife really likes it/him and keeps saying, “I don’t understand why you dislike it/him so much.” I’ll readily admit that the intensity of my dislike is probably somewhat irrational.
I understand not liking him (though I whole heartily disagree.) At first glance he has become a bit of a one trick pony. He really cuts at the right wing like noone else I’ve seen though. The Daily Show is funny, but plays it a bit safe with the guests. Colbert’s “Get to know a district” segment is possibly the funniest thing on television. I wish those tight-wad Democrats that are telling people not to appear on this segment (Pelosi I have lost respect for you) would just get over it and realize its a funny joke.
I think most of what he does is funny but not everything. I like the over the top right-wing shtick and the word, but if I never hear about the Saginaw Spirit again I’ll be happy. Whe he urged people to vandalize Wikipedia I got pretty pissed off.
My girlfriend can’t stand him. She knows it’s all an act, but she just hates the persona so much that she can’t stand to listen to him. She says it’s like being sat down and yelled at for thirty minutes. Naturally, this causes problems in the middle of my 1:00-2:30 a.m. Daily Show-Colbert-Good Eats TV block.
Isn’t it nice. You start a thread for people to discuss that they don’t like The Colbert Report and we all chime in to say how great he is. You are welcome not to like him. He is definitely an aquired taste. YMMV of course.
Majorly liberal, and with a sense of humor too, but I have to admit, same here. Sweet Jesus I hate Bill O’Lielly so much, I can’t even stand to watch a parody of him, even when I know exactly what he’s doing. Good for him for sticking it to right-wing fucktards, but I can’t watch it myself. I liked him on The Daily Show though. I was sad when he left.
If you don’t like [love] Colbert and his exaggerated pseudopersona, then you don’t have a developed sense of humor, end of story. From my observation, this is also likely to make you a cherished member of the SDMB where all sarcasm must be appended with disclaimer smilies in order to avoid the relentless disdain of the Humorless Ignorance Fighters League who have everything and everyone figured out from post one, usually through the use of labels such as ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ or ‘left-wing’ or ‘right-wing’.
The genius of Colbert is that he’s not on either end of the political spectrum, and as a moderate libertarian I know the truth always lies somewhere in the middle. He knows this as well, and plays each side brilliantly like a finely balanced instrument. His ability to don the role and play it straightfaced with inflated journalistic mannerisms is unsurpassed, and I find more often than not that the people who don’t like him also don’t like a lot of other humorously juxtaposed aspects of life due to some myopic self-centered political bias which has developmentally stilted their sense of humor. Their loss, I suppose … the funniest things in life happen when all sides are represented, not just the side you personally endorse.