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The Colbert Report in the Media


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I just saw this study, and I wasn't sure whether I should make a new thread for press or not, so I'm posting it here.

 

From the US News & World Report

[Hardy] and his fellow researchers phone surveyed more than 1,200 adults, some of them regular viewers of the “The Colbert Report,” others dependent on more traditional news sources such as Fox, MSNBC and CNN, as well as broadcast news, newspapers and talk radio. The researchers tested their subjects’ perceived knowledge about the political fundraising – how much they thought they knew about super PACs and 501©(4)s – as well as their actual knowledge, by asking them to identify a series of true-or-false statements about these groups. Researchers found that, even after controlled for general political knowledge and other factors, “Colbert Report” viewers had both a higher perceived knowledge and higher actual knowledge about campaign finance groups when compared to those who preferred more conventional news sources.

 

Being a new viewer, I missed all of that, but man, this sure highlights how badly Stephen and his show will be missed after this year.

Edited by Fremde Frau
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Stephen was also mentioned in a review of the book on today's All Things Considered, though it was pretty negative. It got a rave in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle -- it was on the cover of the Books section. I have a hard time believing it would have been getting all of this attention without the Bump!

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Colbert and Stewart: bros 4 life! Check fun 'outside-the-show' collaboration on the "Colbert Bucket List"!

 

If I can join in on the Late Night Host Luvfest, Conan O'Brien had a few words to say about Colbert's "Masturbating Bear" last night. I thought it would serve as a catalyst to "Late Night Wars: The Sequel", at first; the very end was simply touching, if not hilarious. Hope Colbert can give him a little shout-out tonight!

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Here are some photo's of the writers on stage accepting their awards, and later at the Comedy Central after party: [Link]

 

According to the Emmy website, the Creative Arts Emmy's will air be broadcast on Sunday, 8/24 on FXM.

Edited by RA-Monty
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The worst decision the Emmy showrunners have ever made is eliminating those videos from the main show.

 

Agreed -- that's one of the reasons I started watching the Emmys in the first place, 'cause those videos were so awesome and hilarious. Do they even bother making them in "off" years (i.e. the years when the writers' award is given during the Schmemmys, as Kathy Griffin calls them)?

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Though Colbert came under fire earlier this year for his attempt to use racial insensitivity to mock racial insensitivity, he has not faced public criticism about the dearth of women on his show – but his failure to feature a diverse range of guests suggests that he should.

 

 

I've been waiting for somebody to write this piece for YEARS. I, and other viewers, have been complaining about this very thing for a long, long time in the TWoP forum and now here.

 

Of course, the comments on the Reuters piece are a textbook example of why one shouldn't read the comments. "Or maybe more women could actually do something worthwhile to warrant an invitation instead of crying and begging for reservations?" Obviously a lot of people are going to reflexively jump in and defend Colbert, but I am the biggest Colbert fan around, I have watched almost every single episode of TCR since it began, but this is truly a case where I wish they'd something about it a long time ago.

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Good article and I agree with it, although I have a problem with this

 

Stewart and Colbert are darlings of the left, icons of contemporary American liberalism. But neither has earned that status in one very important way: the majority of their guests are just as white and male as they are.

 This idea that liberals are strongly pro-minorities (as it is implied on the article, at least as I read it) is just legend. It is true that they are better than conservatives (duh!) but other than being outspoken (and some might even be strong activists) on racial issues, liberals with name recognition and air time can be very sexists and they certainly are not unwavering allies of the disabled community (they do defend the social safety net that benefits disabled peole, but they do not value disabled lives as they value non-disabled lives, or at least they do not take a firm stand)

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I noticed recently that the Comedy Network in Canada is advertising that they will be showing Jimmy Kimmel in Colbert's timeslot starting September 22. "That can't be right," I said to myself. "We're not done with Colbert yet." However I have searched and searched and although I have found numerous confirmations of the advent of Jimmy Kimmel I have not been able to find any information about what that means for the scheduling of The Colbert Report in Canada for the remainder of its time.

 

If anyone knows anything, please reply!

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I noticed recently that the Comedy Network in Canada is advertising that they will be showing Jimmy Kimmel in Colbert's timeslot starting September 22. "That can't be right," I said to myself. "We're not done with Colbert yet." However I have searched and searched and although I have found numerous confirmations of the advent of Jimmy Kimmel I have not been able to find any information about what that means for the scheduling of The Colbert Report in Canada for the remainder of its time.

 

If anyone knows anything, please reply!

 

I just sent them an email asking them to explain themselves about this purported move of theirs. If you're interested in contacting them, their email address is mail@thecomedynetwork.ca

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Attention Colbert Nation Canada. After sending them an e-hate-mail last week over what they plan to do with TCR, The Comedy Network responded back with this:

 

Hi (Victor the Crab),

 

Thank you for your email.  The Colbert Report will continue to air but at a new time slot following Jimmy Kimmel.

 

Thank you for your continued support,

 

The Comedy Network Public Relations

 

Translation: TCR will be shown at 12:35PM right after Kimmel, a full hour and five minutes after TDS.

 

I'm not sure whether I should be relieved or pissed at this news.

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Attention Colbert Nation Canada. After sending them an e-hate-mail last week over what they plan to do with TCR, The Comedy Network responded back with this:

 

 

Translation: TCR will be shown at 12:35PM right after Kimmel, a full hour and five minutes after TDS.

 

I'm not sure whether I should be relieved or pissed at this news.

 

This is interesting -- the zap2it schedule for the next 2 weeks now shows Colbert as of Sept 22/23 having moved to CTV at 2:37 am. So not on The Comedy Network at all. I remember when they dropped Colbert from following TDS on the CTV repeat but I assumed it was to entice viewers to subscribe to The Comedy Network. I am surprised because I feel like anecdotally a lot of people say they prefer Colbert to Stewart.

 

I am pissed because, #1 they didn't include any of this information in their Kimmel announcements, and #2 they are treating it like something that needs to be burned off.

Edited by SomeTameGazelle
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This is interesting -- the zap2it schedule for the next 2 weeks now shows Colbert as of Sept 22/23 having moved to CTV at 2:37 am. So not on The Comedy Network at all. I remember when they dropped Colbert from following TDS on the CTV repeat but I assumed it was to entice viewers to subscribe to The Comedy Network. I am surprised because I feel like anecdotally a lot of people say they prefer Colbert to Stewart.

 

I am pissed because, #1 they didn't include any of this information in their Kimmel announcements, and #2 they are treating it like something that needs to be burned off.

 

CTV is the worst.  Which is a tremendous feat because the Canadian telcom industry is possibly the second worst in the world, populated entirely by terrible conglomerates.  So CTV's ascension to the top of a heap of awful is impressive.

 

I'm surprised to hear you say that "anecdotally a lot of people say they prefer Colbert to Stewart."  The anecdotes I've heard usually suggest that people outside of the US tend to not quite "get" Colbert because they don't have the same exposure to the O'Reilly's of the world and don't understand the source of the parody.  Although that might have changed over the past few years as the US-style punditry has been exported more globally, to the detriment of all.

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When I glance over tweets in languages other than English, it seems like TCR is valued mostly for its witty send-up of the ugly American and TDS is valued mostly for its pointed editorial voice (especially after segments like the one about Ferguson, immigration, Gaza/Israel, etc.). I think with John Oliver now becoming very solidly fixed on the pointed editorial side of comedy, that may have shifted perception of TDS closer to the middle between hilarious and editorial, which I think is closer to where they actually are. Anyway, it reminds me of what Stephen said once, that Jon deconstructs the news, and he reconstructs it in some warped form. Now John Oliver deconstructs it and just leaves it in pieces. Basically: Jon's dinner, Stephen's dessert, and John's the indigestion that wakes you up at night. I love these shows so much.
 
(A lot of commentary lately, though, has been that people overseas cannot even view the shows on CC because of geoblocking. Is Viacom responsible for that, or is it a matter of international regulations?)
 

Although that might have changed over the past few years as the US-style punditry has been exported more globally, to the detriment of all.

God save us.

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CTV is the worst.  Which is a tremendous feat because the Canadian telcom industry is possibly the second worst in the world, populated entirely by terrible conglomerates.  So CTV's ascension to the top of a heap of awful is impressive.

 

I'm surprised to hear you say that "anecdotally a lot of people say they prefer Colbert to Stewart."  The anecdotes I've heard usually suggest that people outside of the US tend to not quite "get" Colbert because they don't have the same exposure to the O'Reilly's of the world and don't understand the source of the parody.  Although that might have changed over the past few years as the US-style punditry has been exported more globally, to the detriment of all.

 

Checked the listings again and now they show both an airing after Kimmel on the Comedy Network as confirmed to Victor the Crab as well as a late night airing on CTV. I'd be happier if CTV had it in the 11:30 pm slot but having it on a channel more people can get is good.

 

My Canadian anecdotal sample is probably too small to be truly representative. I think though that Jon's persona is basically sincere, so either you like what he says or you don't, whereas Stephen is so brilliantly duplicitous that you can choose to take any statement at face value or choose to believe that in his true heart he means the opposite if that is more agreeable to you. 

 

My U.S. anecdotal sample is even smaller but I had got the impression that some Americans apparently viewed Colbert as if he were sincerely a right wing lunatic and disliked him on that basis.

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My U.S. anecdotal sample is even smaller but I had got the impression that some Americans apparently viewed Colbert as if he were sincerely a right wing lunatic and disliked him on that basis.

 

Even funnier is that there apparently is a sample of right wing lunatics who love the show because they think Stephen is one of them.

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For what it's worth, there is actual research on the topic.

"The Irony of Satire: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report"

Abstract
This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.

 
I guess they believe he's mocking the perception by liberals of conservative icons like Bill O'Reilly by playing the character over the top and speaking truthiness to power (i.e., the liberal monolith that is everyone in the universe who thinks differently from them)?

Edited by Fremde Frau
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Under the "Hey, why is CTV messing with Colbert" banner - various CTV stations (like HGTV -please don't judge) have been running spots that Colbert is going to be on M3 (the station formerly known as MuchMoreMusic) at 11:30 starting this coming week- we'll see.

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CTV is the worst.  Which is a tremendous feat because the Canadian telcom industry is possibly the second worst in the world, populated entirely by terrible conglomerates.  So CTV's ascension to the top of a heap of awful is impressive.

 

Seriously. CTV can suck it. Also, moving @Midnight to Muchmusic (Really?) means all my late night comedy is a mess. Oh well, thanks for PVR.

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On Monday night M3 was showing a rerun of DWTS at 11:30 so I missed Stephen. :( Tonight I was flipping around and at 8:35 suddenly discovered TCR was on M3. So that dilemma is finally solved for me in that I now know that here on the west coast it's like a hockey game being played down east and I have to catch it three hours earlier. Problem with that is there's often some prime time program on at 8:30 that I want to watch. Stupid Comedy Channel. @#$&*^$

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TDS and TCR are having live midterm election coverage on November 4th. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they will be doing it together.



“The Daily Show’s” special political coverage, “Democalypse 2014: America Remembers It Forgot to Vote” will feature news and results analysis from host Jon Stewart and The Best F#@king News Team Ever with a guest appearance via satellite by Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

“The Colbert Report’s” special political coverage for The Nation, “Midterms ‘014: Detour to Gridlock: An Exciting Thing That I Am Totally Interested In—Wait! Don’t Change the Channel. Look at this Video of a Duckling Following a Cat Dressed Like a Shark Riding a Roomba! ‘014!” will include host Stephen Colbert’s patriotic fervor and insightful conjecture of the results with a guest appearance by Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish.

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I wonder if Colbert had any idea that Letterman would end his show so late in 2015 when SC announced his own final date. Isn't he taking some of his creative staff/production to the Late Show? Ten months off might be financially easy for Colbert, but if people are moving with him... that can't be easy for everyone.

 

It seems pretty likely he did know. Letterman's contract runs until September, and when he made the announcement back in April, Les Moonves did a bunch of interviews where he repeatedly said that Letterman would remain on the job for at least another year.

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