# Colbert and Kent State **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 14, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258 "2006-03-14T01:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/21 "2006-03-14T02:47:22Z")
What was Neil’s reaction? Did he play along? ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/22 "2006-03-14T02:49:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > He just made a joke about “brave national guardsmen” and “hippies” when Neil Young was on the Daily Show. > My vocabulary fails me. What an asshole. If you feel like pitting someone else **carnivorousplant** might I suggest [The Onion](http://www.theonion.com)? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/23 "2006-03-14T02:49:33Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > You might as well pit Cartman on South Park. The Hitler loving, Jew hating, anti civil rights, selfish glutton of an obese, lazy nine year old? The jack booted mods would disappear it in an instant! 😛 Still, this thread proves that someone can offended by almost anything. Depends on perceptions, sensitivity, personal experience, humour threshhold, and a shit load of other stuff. **Carn** has the right to feel that way. Thing is, you don’t have to agree. Beautiful system, innit? Now, if this were an interaction in real life, I would say it was low class. But it wasn’t. It was a satirical parody lampooning a certain perceived attitude.\* Not everyone’s cup of tea, I understand, but still. Just for fun, synonyms are: caricature, burlesque, parody, travesty, satire, lampoon From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com): > [@](#): > > These nouns denote artistic forms in which someone or something is imitated in an amusing and generally critical manner. A caricature grossly exaggerates a distinctive or striking feature with intent to ridicule: _drew a caricature of the politician_. Burlesque, which usually denotes a dramatic work, suggests outlandish mimicry and broad comedy to provoke laughter: _a burlesque playing at the theater_. Parody, travesty, and satire generally apply to written works. Parody employs the manner and style of a well-known work or writer for a ludicrous effect: _wrote a parody of the famous novel_. A travesty is a harshly distorted imitation: _a travesty of morality_. Satire usually involves ridiculing follies and vices: employs satire in her poetry. A lampoon is a malicious but broadly humorous satire: _a lampoon authored by a standup comic_. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/24 "2006-03-14T02:51:47Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > If anyone deserves a pitting it’s that little fucker. He killed two people, cut up their bodies, and fed them to the victim’s sone, his nemesis. Not to defend cartman, but he didn’t actually kill them. He set them up into getting killed, but he didn’t actually kill them. After all, it’s not terribly bright to be sneaking around the farm of a crazy redneck like Jenkins in the middle of the night. but he still stole the bodies and mutilated them. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/25 "2006-03-14T02:53:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > He just made a joke about “brave national guardsmen” and “hippies” when Neil Young was on the Daily Show. > My vocabulary fails me. What an asshole. Methinks you need to watch the show more. And he doesn’t care about facts. Facts are for the “intelligestias”, who read “books”. He looks for the truth…in his gut. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/26 "2006-03-14T02:53:50Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > What was Neil’s reaction? Did he play along? He cracked a smile and they moved on quickly. It was a small offhand joke, nothing to take offense to unless someone is looking to take offense. Jim ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/27 "2006-03-14T03:01:50Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > , nothing to take offense to unless someone is looking to take offense. > > Jim Or was at Kent State when it happened! SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU DON’T KNOW ME! YOU DON’T KNOW ME! I DO WHAT I WANT! (Lord, I apologise…) (Seriously, to **Carni** , just sick humour man. Like me in an ENT thread. Not always funny, sure to offend someone, but really fun to do.) ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/28 "2006-03-14T03:02:33Z")
I thought the ashtray joke was a branch davidian joke. But I suppose it could just as well be world trade tower tenants, Beslan students, or any of a number of fiery travesties. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/29 "2006-03-14T03:15:01Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > I thought the ashtray joke was a branch davidian joke. > > But I suppose it could just as well be world trade tower tenants, Beslan students, or any of a number of fiery travesties. I heard it in a history class in high school, in the 70s, after watching a Holocaust film. I would wager it is much older. But I would also wager it was first coined as a Holocaust joke, since even in my 1977 hearing of it, it had a Volkswagon, a German car, in it. Doesn’t quite work as truly sick humour otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/30 "2006-03-14T03:22:53Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I heard it in a history class in high school, in the 70s, after watching a Holocaust film. I would wager it is much older. But I would also wager it was first coined as a Holocaust joke, since even in my 1977 hearing of it, it had a Volkswagon, a German car, in it. Doesn’t quite work as truly sick humour otherwise. I heard it around the same time and found it pretty sick then too. In the end it isn’t much worse than dead baby jokes though. Jim ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/31 "2006-03-14T03:36:01Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Methinks you need to watch the show more. > > And he doesn’t care about facts. Facts are for the “intelligestias”, who read “books”. He looks for the truth…in his gut. He has moved one to getting at the truthiness of issues. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/32 "2006-03-14T03:38:15Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > He has moved one to getting at the truthiness of issues. one = on oops ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/33 "2006-03-14T03:41:51Z")
I love the Volkswagen joke. Literally one of my most favorite jokes ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@Mister\_Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Falcon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/34 "2006-03-14T04:05:39Z")
Many moons ago I dated a Jewish girl named Hannah. Her grandfather, Martin, was a holocaust survivor. One night we were camping out under the stars. She told me many stories about grandaddy Martin and all his exploits after WW2. Finally, I asked her: Me: What about your grandmother? Hannah: She’s a bar of soap. Me: :eek: I was mortified, speechless. But Hannah started giggling, I started giggling. Sometimes the most awful things are funny. I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/35 "2006-03-14T04:37:48Z")
Maybe this is a generation gap thing, but it’s probably a humor gap thing. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Of course it’s ajoke, but it’s about as funny as a holocaust joke. Man, I hope nobody tells this guy that almost all Holocaust jokes are told (and best appreciated) by Jews. **Slacker** , there was an Onion Pitting about six weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/36 "2006-03-14T04:51:06Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Being Jewish, I figured I could. Well, maybe Colbert was killed at Kent State. Did you ever think of _that_? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/37 "2006-03-14T05:45:24Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I love the Volkswagen joke. Literally one of my most favorite jokes ever. I think my all-time favorite joke that I hate myself for loving is: Q: What’s the opposite of Christopher Reeve? A: Christopher Walken ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/38 "2006-03-14T06:24:38Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Dude, I don’t care if you’re Elie fucking Wiesel. It was a dumbass comparison. OK? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/39 "2006-03-14T06:27:30Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Well, maybe Colbert was killed at Kent State. Did you ever think of _that_? It would be very truthy of him. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258/40 "2006-03-14T06:28:28Z")
Q: What’s worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm? A:The Holocaust! Seriously, carniverous, Colbert agrees with you. He’s making fun of fascist assholes like Anne Coulter. It’s called _satire_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colbert-and-kent-state/348258.md?page=3)