Indecision 2008

Here's to the only worthwhile news on television.

Colbert Nation

I have found that Stephen Colbert is growing on me. At first, I was a die-hard Jon Stewart fan - still am - and found Colbert's act a little odd. I had been watching the Daily Show for years, while Colbert had this new, upstart show.

Then came the Emmys. I have a secret fascination with awards shows, even though I rarely watch the shows that are given awards because I like reruns better, and I am too cheap to pay for cable. I am also usually too cheap to spring for movies, so the Globes and Oscars - which I also watched - were usually more of academic rather than personal interest to me. When Colbert and Stewart walked in to announce the nominations, I expected them to be funny. I didn't expect Colbert to begin with, "Good evening, godless sodomites." Having actually watched this live, I can say that I didn't know quite how to react, then realized that Colbert was getting these shallow Hollywood types to laugh at themselves. And I also must say one more thing - BARRY MANILOW WON??? WHAT?!?! Barry MANILOW - the Copa Cabana man - beat out Colbert and Stewart in a concert he did for fun?? I mean.... MANILOW!!! Okay. Done now. Moving on.

At the White House Correspondents dinner, his comments regarding President Bush are funny and worth mentioning, such as the line "Reality has a well-known liberal bias" - but since Bush invited him and expected nothing less, it's not that important. What cemented my respect for his particular brand of criticism was the way he completely lambasted the press. Criticizing the way they have consistently failed to meet their own standards of journalistic integrity and honestly questioning the system, Colbert gave props to Helen Thomas for asking the questions that for some reason, everyone else was afraid to ask.

I used to watch Colbert just for the Word. Now, I watch Colbert to see one of the funniest and smartest guys on TV (except that I watch on the internet). As Jon Stewart said, they'll never run out of good material as long as the system in which we live is so unbelievably absurd.