Stephen Colbert had his first show from Iraq yesterday. You can tell that the soliders love him, and he was quite amusing. I loved what good sports McCain and Obama were poking fun at themselves.
I should have guessed that he was in the Middle East a couple weeks ago when they took a vacation.
That was a great episode. Not quite as topical as it usually is, but then he’s very clearly doing a USO entertainment-style show rather than his usual stuff. The show built beautifully from the Bob Hope-style standup at the start to the Word to Basic to the haircut. I was dying by the end, especially with Obama’s appearance.
“Yes, there is chapstick inside!”
Was I not paying attention or is Obama doing a lot more…“unpresidential”…appearances than Bush did.
I’m not counting his campaigning, I’m just talking about guest things. Like the Tonight Show, and this. I wouldn’t think Bush would do too much AFTER 9/11 since that’s where all of his controversy came from, but it’s just something I am noticing. Am I right in this??
Well, you have to understand, he’s not just the president of the United States…he’s a CELEBRITY.
:rolleyes:
Not really, but why should he be all business? He’s coming across as a pretty accessible guy, which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing.
Yes, really.
According to the Times, they are taping only a few days ahead, so the show last night was done Friday or Saturday.
But the monologue reminded me of the Bob Hope ones I saw as a kid. Nice job Stephen. The Obama joke about the ears was great.
Fine, whatever. They should have him host the Emmys.
Can we get back to the show?
I love it. That digital camouflage suit is just fantastic.
CNN says the show was taped on Sunday.
I liked that he was holding a golf club during the opening ala Bob Hope.
We were dying here, absolutely fabulous stuff.
I love how he is billed in the credits now:
Executive Producer
Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.
A shame the military doesn’t offer “honorary” ranks.
The “Dr.” comes from an honorary doctorate from Knox College, and the “Sir” is from being named a Knight of the Colbert Nation by the Queen of Jordan. This story from the Army News Service refers to him as “Private Stephen Colbert,” and he was wearing a private’s stripe on his camo suit, so he may actually have a military rank. Whether his producer’s credit will be changed to reflect this is to be seen.
Are people really giving Obama flak over this or should I be ducking?
He took probably 5 minutes while doing one of his weekly addresses to be part of a moral booster for the troops that he is Commander in Chief of. I don’t know if I would consider this “unpresidential” at all. Because it was a comedy show? Please, it’s not as though it was just a typical TCR episode. Besides, I’m sure that little bit of time spent to tell a joke meant a whole lot more to those soldiers than any of Bush’s 490 dayson his ranch(plus another 487 at Camp David). That is not to say they didn’t welcome any appearance by Bush, they did of course, as he too was their CiC. But a shout out to the Armed Forces is a whole lot more presidential than clearing brush. As for the Tonight Show appearance, debatable, but I think that was an effort to balance out the Stimulus Bill “debate” that was happening on the cable news channels at the time.
Back to the OP, Colbert was outstanding as usual. It was cool to see him get such a great reaction from the troops. McCain was funny, and supposedly Sarah Palin will be on sometime in the week, that should be interesting.
For the record, I was not against the appearance at all. I thought it was nice, and very funny.
I just merely posed the question cuz I was curious.
Fair enough. I suspect the ‘Bush-isms’ probably kept him from making too many unscripted appearances as well.
I know in the Air Force he could be an “honarary” squadron commander. We had one at me squadron, although I never saw him.
:D:D:D
This was a scripted appearance, taped before the show - so he was safe. I assume a Colbert show writer did the bit about the ears - otherwise I’m even more impressed by him.