Back in the 70′s, there was only Johnny Carson. But since the retirement of the undisputed King of Late Night in 1992, there has been a plethora of new shows pop up, each with the same basic formula, but unique in their own way. After reading Bill Carter’s The War For Late Night, I have become addicted to late-night television all over again. So I am starting a new series of posts dedicated to the many hosts out there currently making us laugh after prime time, analyzing one at a time.
After Strangers With Candy and a long, successful stint on the Daily Show, Stephen Colbert had a pretty genius epiphany. Â With the aide of Jon Stewart, he launched the Colbert Report, modeled after the insanity of conservative television pundits on Fox News, blindly partisan and patriotic, ignoring facts over feeling. Â The prime mocking/homage target was “Papa Bear” Bill O’Reilly, who, unlike his Faux News peers, has taken the jabs in good spirit and half-flattery.
While it was common knowledge Colbert would be playing a character every night, an irrational, interrupting, bombastic, overly patriotic, conservative blowhard, no one would have imagined the following he would capture, the media attention he would get, and the long-lasting spectacle that the character would become. Â From delivering his press correspondent’s speech in character to visiting the troops in Iraq, to, most recently, lambasting the new de-regulation on election campaign finance by starting his own Super PAC, Colbert has lassoed in a slew of diehard followers, affectionately known as the Colbert Nation, who will follow him and Stewart, Glenn Beck-style, to the National Mall donning costumes and humorous signs.
And while Colbert usually gets lumped as Robin to Stewart’s Batman, the show and demeanor are anything but alike. Â While the Daily Show attacks the issues of the day with a straight-forward, mocking, sometimes too-preachy-for-some tone, the Colbert Report is the lighthearted alternative, focusing on the absurd and more visual gags. Â He tackles the issues in a different light, mocking, yes, but as an individual pretending to defend idiocy and hypocrisy. Â And if you’re not in on the joke, you just might be fooled. Â It’s that level of creativity that makes Colbert sometimes even sharper than his “opening act.”
