Politicos v. Colbert
Great piece in today's Times about Steven Colbert's quest to interview 434 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives. (Colbert says Rep. Randy Cunningham of California (R) is "dead to me").
Colbert's already talked one congressman into punching him, and another into allowing Colbert to comb his moustache.
I was a little dissapointed to read that Barney Frank of Massachusetts, one of the funniest congressman (a slight distinction no doubt), was the only one who said he wouldn't do it again. He said Colbert was "Two Stooges short of a good routine." Bah humbug. If you didn't want him to make fun of your gayness, Barney, maybe you shouldn't have gotten caught with that male prostitute.
One of the odd transformations that the Daily Show franchise has undergone over the course of the Stewart Administration is away from the Ali-G-esque "we're real reporters" act of the early days, and towards complex comedy set pieces. Actually, they've lately been moving away from field reports all together in favor of studio bits like "This Week in God."
There's no doubt that Stewart is a wonderful TV host, who manages to be both likeable and snarky, a tough task. And the folks the Daily Show hires are almost without exception fantastic. But whent he subjects are in on the act, the whole thing loses a bit of it's power, doesn't it?
Personally, I'm very excited about a show called American Lives, coming to Comedy Central this summer. It stars, among others, past Sound guests Zach Galifianakis and Matt Walsh, as a fictional newsteam, travelling the country interviewing real people and having semi-improvised interactions. It's produced by one of the fellas behind Ali G, and it sounds like a winner to me. Walsh is one of the best straight men in the business, and as Galifianakis showed in the Comedians of Comedy, he's an amazing talent, whose comic live wire act is totally engrossing.
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
posted by Jesse Thorn at Tuesday, February 28, 2006
4 Comments:
Colbert answered the Times on last night's show. They had it wrong. Cunningham wasn't dead to him, his district was, for bailing on him.
I think your suggestion that the show loses power when the subjects are in on the act is what has prompted the move away from the pre-recorded segments. As the show became more popular, maybe people were seeing that they were being made fun of, and weren't as willing to go on the show. That could also be, as the article points out, why Colbert has only had two Republicans on.
But last night's interview with Arianna Huffington was the first time I've seen Colbert break character. It was rather shocking, and almost as disturbing as watching him stay in character.
Ariana Huffington is such a parody of herself I can't imagine her participating in anything real.
Am I the only person who still thinks of Michael Huffington when she's in public? I still don't buy into her whole deal.
I'm not from California so I don't know much about Michael Huffington beyond his Wikipedia entry.
I saw Corddry do a college show a month back. He gave a DVD aided demonstration of how their correspondent segments are done. The interview subjects have always been in on the joke, they're coached to answer questions as straight as they can.
The move towards in-studio stuff, according to Corddry, is the result of staff shake-ups that they're trying to resolve.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home