I have the DVD- just like everything else in the special, the alternate endings are meant to be tongue-in-cheek. One of them plays on the old “It was all a dream” cliche, and another plays on a number of Twilight Zone-style cliches. And the bear kills Stephen in the third one.
…long quote follows.
That’s a great passage you’re using to express your ideas…but when you use someone else’s ideas like that, it’s considered good net citizenship to give them credit!
Of course I meant to. Sorry about that.
-FrL-
I find it somewhat ironic that L. Brent Bozell- one of those conservative types who is almost like a real-life Colbert, only not being facetious- was offended by the special, whereas his buddy William Donohue- whose organization a Variety review of the special commented was one of the “satire-challenged” types who would probably hate it, obviously got the joke and gave it a free pass. (Then again, Donohue lets Colbert- and himself- say and do things on his show he doesn’t let others, probably because he’s a Catholic.)
Bozell missed the point of the jokes completely: Toby Keith’s song wasn’t meant to “equate Christians with bloodthirsty Muslim radicals,” but rather both poke fun at Keith’s own Colbert-like, jingoistic “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way” persona and comment on the ridiculousness of the phrase “War on Christmas” (wars usually involve weaponry and death, after all, don’t they?) Similarly, Willie Nelson’s song isn’t meant to glorify marijuana and claim it is superior to Christianity, but poke fun at Nelson’s notorious drug habits. The message of the song is a positive one, despite its setup. Strangely, Bozell has no problem with Jon Stewart’s self-deprecating Jewish humor. And if his interpretation of the final song is that “Christianity and Islam…[are] two different brands of poison,” why does he neglect to mention lyrics which, by his interpretation, would imply that atheism is also poison, such as “If you believe in nothing, then what’s to keep that nothing from coming for you” (which, as an atheist, I found to be a hilarious line)? I hope Colbert comments on this column when he comes back next week.
If it hadn’t before, this special also proved “Not so much” has gone viral by having Toby Keith say it.
I’ve watched the show again a couple of times. I still think it was very funny, with Jon Stewart’s song holding up nicely because it was well crammed with Jewish syntax and cultural jokes. And “pontiff/good yontif” was a great rhyme.
Hmm… I liked the song just fine, but I thought the muslim/christian analogy was definitely (intentionally) there in the offing just waiting to be inferred. I would agree that’s not the whole “point” of the song, though.
-FrL-