That’s a great interview (with Onion A/V). It really interested me how he was so informed about the quirks of four different news pundits and how he tries to incorporate them into his character. They’ve done their homework.
I hope to see wild boar evolve to displace hummingbirds from their ecological niche.
I am completely enraptured with Stephen Colbert because has a geek-streak a mile wide. I still love the Daily, but the Report skews nerdier. I love how Colbert has interviewed so many scientists, and I think Stephen more than Jon is willing to go for the obscure allusion or highbrow digression. I swear, sometimes I feel like the show is written for me, like I’m exactly the demographic they’re trying to ensnare in their silken web of over-educated wise-assery.
My secret wish is that Colbert would just drop out of character for the really interesting interviews, but that would probably ruin the conceit, wouldn’t it? Nonetheless, I think he’s growing more adroit at steering the interview in the most interesting direction without breaking character. And if nothing else, I think he’ll have an easier time attracting guests because he’s playing the buffoon. Self-effacing humor aside, I think many guests are rightly intimidated by sitting across the desk from Jon Stewart, but everybody looks good in comparison with the Colbert-character.
Colbert’s Election night 2000 is what hooked me on TDS post-Craig.
I TiVo’d the first two weeks of The Report. Laughed once. Never watched it again.
Every ad I see for it uses bits from those first two weeks. Nothing new?
Each time I watch The Daily Show, I watch Stewart’s bit with Colbert, lookng for that old sparkle, something that will make me tune into his show again, and every time I am sorry.
I was behind this show from the beginning, so my opinion doesn’t count for much. 
But I do think they’ve rounded into form for sure, and The Word and Threat Down have become reliably excellent. I also really liked what they did with the War on [del]Christmas[/del] Humbuggery. That was terrific satire.
Besides someone has to alert us to the threat of Bears.
Why would you watch that to try and judge if Colbert’s funny? It has nothing to do with his show. It’s just there to spoof news shows that ‘toss’ like that and get a quick laugh.
The origin of species is in the fiction section. Duh.
In addition, Colbert does some voices for Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, which is one big tribute/parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters of the sixties and seventies.
That is sooo F-ing funny. I soo thought that the “bear” thing was just pure retarted geekness, in the beginning, but he has played that running joke so well that I giggle when the word “bear” comes up in my daily life, now.
My favorite reference was when he put HAMAS on notice because they were going to use “bears” in their kid-program… and that they’d be on notice until they dissociated themselves from these heartless killers… I just about died… I am still laughing now, a week later, about it.
Sure, it’s all a laugh until you realize that his name is COLE-BEAR. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a self-hating bear.
I have to admit that for the first week, I was scratching my head too, wondering what happened to the Mr. Goodrich/Daily show mystique.
…But then I actually started paying attention to O’reilly’s show on Fox News. I had always been offended because he was too ‘liberal media’ for me – you know, spinning things however he liked… I never made it through an entire O’reilly show.
However, after Colbert, I watch and laugh, and then feel myself drawn back to Colbert for more, to go back to O’reilly and laugh more… until I am laughing everywhere I turn… "faster… faster… fssseteer,.,., "!
Now, I find myself laughing at nearly everything Colbert says… I have to say its getting close, if not surpassing TDS.
Something I think they should go back to is having a special segment with the guest of each show in addition to an interview. Early on they did this a lot - like the Stone Phillips gravitas-off, and the fake callers with the guy who wrote the dating book. Stuff like that allows more creativity with a wider variety of people than a straight up interview format, I think.
That’s it, now you are both going on my list.
I have room around 15.
Jim
That’s un-BEARably funny! 
Wait…is that the “On Notice” list or the “Dead to Me” list? Am I the only one that has these lists in real life too?
“Its your lucky night E-Street Band.”
I think just the On Notice" list.
No I am afraid I don’t have these list in real life.
Jim
The segment he did with Steven Van Zandt was my favorite moment from the show so far. My mom is an even bigger Springsteen fan than I am and I sent her the tape and now she is taping the Report every night just based on that bit.
It took me a while to get used to his character but now I love it. It really is a spot-on parody of some of those “pundits”.
Stephen being the only one on screen, and the victory lap are both supposed to be parodies of the Daily Show, because with Jon, it tends to be the exact opposite (he NEVER sits down before his guest does). At least, that’s my impression. It also adds to the intense arrogance of the show, which is of course a satire of O’Reilly et al. Still, it might be nice to have someone else sometimes.
Overall, I have to agree with you guys. The show is constantly getting better, and I love the word, the threatdown, etc. My favorite line ever (or at least favorite that comes to me at the moment) is “Now, I have nothing against gay people. Some of my best friends are going to hell.” I think you need to hear his inflection.
Yes it would. It is possible, at times, to play a secondary soundtrack in your mind, which tells you what he (the real person, not the character) is thinking.
More evidence of geekery: He cited the Peloponnessian war at one point noting that Sparta had “triremes of mass destruction.”
I’m loving the show just as it is. They’ve definately found their stroke over there.