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First of all, Stephen Colbert is named for the very first martyr to the Christian faith: Saint Stephen, a man “full of faith and power” who “did great wonders among the people” (Acts of the Apostles 6:8) but who — shortly after the crucifixion of Christ — was stoned to death for preaching on His behalf (Acts 7:59). No man of our time resembles Saint Stephen more than Stephen Colbert, a staunch Roman Catholic with a devoted following of young people deeply inspired by his eloquent advocacy of strictly conservative values and Christian faith. A few years ago, I distinctly recall his proudly reciting from memory every word of the Apostles’ Creed — right in the middle of his show. Furthermore, since I taught at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years, I knew Stephen well as an undergraduate, and I can assure you that at least once a week in his Dartmouth years he was totally stoned.

Secondly, at a time when the great ship of Roman Catholicism is rocked by scandal and captained by a frail octogenarian, we desperately need a fresh and firm young hand at the helm. I say this with all due respect to Pope Benedict XVI, who — to shift metaphors slightly — has newly fortified the church’s seawall of dogma and doctrine against all the raging tides of godless modernism: against contraception, abortion, homosexuality, married priests (except of course for ex-Episcopal ministers creeping in through the back door) and the ordination of women, who blindly and stubbornly fail to see that God never meant them to be priests, for otherwise He would have made them bearded Jewish fishermen. For all these reasons, Benedict XVI resoundingly deserves the everlasting gratitude and admiration of his worldwide flock.

Full Article: The Huffington Post.

Categories: Articles Tags: Article, Pope, Stephen Colbert, The Huffington Post

Don’t forget to get your copy of the January 8th edition of “New York Times Magazine” featuring Stephen Colbert on the cover, along with the article “How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?” by Charles McGrath.

Categories: Interviews, Magazine Tags: Article, Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Stephen Colbert

©Todd Heisler | The New York Times

There used to be just two Stephen Colberts, and they were hard enough to distinguish. The main difference was that one thought the other was an idiot. The idiot Colbert was the one who made a nice paycheck by appearing four times a week on “The Colbert Report” (pronounced in the French fashion, with both t’s silent), the extremely popular fake news show on Comedy Central. The other Colbert, the non-idiot, was the 47-year-old South Carolinian, a practicing Catholic, who lives with his wife and three children in suburban Montclair, N.J., where, according to one of his neighbors, he is “extremely normal.” One of the pleasures of attending a live taping of “The Colbert Report” is watching this Colbert transform himself into a Republican superhero.

Suburban Colbert comes out dressed in the other Colbert’s guise — dark two-button suit, tasteful Brooks Brothersy tie, rimless Rumsfeldian glasses — and answers questions from the audience for a few minutes. (The questions are usually about things like Colbert’s favorite sport or favorite character from “The Lord of the Rings,” but on one memorable occasion a young black boy asked him, “Are you my father?” Colbert hesitated a moment and then said, “Kareem?”) Then he steps onstage, gets a last dab of makeup while someone sprays his hair into an unmussable Romney-like helmet, and turns himself into his alter ego. His body straightens, as if jolted by a shock. A self-satisfied smile creeps across his mouth, and a manically fatuous gleam steals into his eyes.

Lately, though, there has emerged a third Colbert. This one is a version of the TV-show Colbert, except he doesn’t exist just on screen anymore. He exists in the real world and has begun to meddle in it. In 2008, the old Colbert briefly ran for president, entering the Democratic primary in his native state of South Carolina. (He hadn’t really switched parties, but the filing fee for the Republican primary was too expensive.) In 2010, invited by Representative Zoe Lofgren, he testified before Congress about the problem of illegal-immigrant farmworkers and remarked that “the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables.”

Photo Slide Show: “A Day with Stephen Colbert”.

Full Article: “How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?”

Categories: Articles Tags: Article, In the Press, New York Times, Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert has written this op-ed in South Carolina’s ‘The State’ addressing the recent press surrounding the naming rights to the 2012 Republican Primary.

©Martin Crook | Comedy Central

As a proud son of South Carolina I must address recent unsubstantiated rumors published in The State that I, Stephen Colbert, tried to buy the naming rights to the 2012 Republican primary. First, never trust anything in a newspaper — except this column, and possibly “Mallard Filmore.” And second, these outrageous and scurrilous rumors border on libel, even if they are, technically, true. I don’t want to talk about it.

Here’s what happened:

I have what’s called a super PAC — a political action committee that can receive unlimited funds to spend on political speech in unlimited quantities. About three months ago, I heard that local officials in South Carolina were suing the state political parties over who would pay for the upcoming presidential primary. The GOP said they would pay a big chunk of the cost, but insisted the taxpayers pick up the bulk. State and local officials said this private primary should be paid for entirely with party funds. And Gov. Nikki Haley said, “It’s a great day in South Carolina!”

Enter Colbert Super PAC.™ South Carolina has two state mottos. (It’s always good to have a backup, in case one motto goes missing for days at a time with the motto of Argentina.) The first is “Animis opibusque parati” — “Prepared in mind and resources.”

For this all important first-in-the-South primary, the Palmetto State was not prepared in resources, but Colbert Super PAC was.

So I called up the South Carolina GOP and said, “How much cash would you have to raise to keep your promise to counties? Off the record; I’ll never tell a soul.” They said, “$400,000.”

I said, “I can cover that. No strings attached.”

Of course, I can’t offer that kind of no-strings-attached-money without getting something in return. I told them I wanted the naming rights to the primary, and a non-binding referendum on the ballot. If they weren’t prepared to horse trade for these two requests, they should never call me back.

Full Article: The State.

Categories: Articles, Colbert SuperPAC Tags: Article, Colbert SuperPac, Republican Primary, Stephen Colbert

“A day doesn’t go by that Stephen Colbert doesn’t do something for DonorsChoose,” Charles Best told me over a recent lunch. Best is the Founder and CEO of DonorsChoose, an online charity that makes it easy to help students in need through school donations. Colbert serves on the board.

Best explained that every evening, Colbert gives a DonorsChoose gift card to his Colbert Report guests. The gift cards, for which Colbert has already paid, gives guests an opportunity to go online to choose where the contribution will go. The idea is that once guests start looking at the teachers and their requests on the DonorsChoose site, they will continue giving on their own, and perhaps even start giving gift cards themselves.

You, too, can give DonorsChoose gift cards to business clients, friends and family. There is also a lesson here for board members to think about how you can be useful, every day, to the organization where you serve.

Full Article: “Giving Like The Stars”.

Categories: Articles Tags: Article, DonorsChoose, Stephen Colbert

Sophia A. McClennen, Professor of Comparative Literature, Spanish, and Women’s Studies at Penn State University, and author of “America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy” has written a new op – ed piece of the current ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement and the ‘Colbert Nation’.

Across the globe and from US city to US city, we watch daily as waves of protesters, many of them young, take to the streets. Such images seemed impossible five years ago. Back then the mainstream buzz was that the youth were “stoned slackers” — too narcissistic and tech obsessed to engage in real protest. Where did all of this young activist energy come from?

The Colbert Nation.

Think that a loyal fan base for a cable television personality can’t have anything in common with a young, politicized group of activists? No doubt there is a difference between the OWS protesters and the Colbert Nation, but they have more in common than you might suspect.

Continue reading “Has the Colbert Nation Occupied Wall Street?” »

Categories: Articles, The Colbert Report Tags: America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy, Article, Colbert Nation, Occupy Wall Street, Sophia A McClennen

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow may be a running gag on “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, but it is spending money as it sees fit, with little in the way of disclosure, just like its noncomedic brethren.

Comedians, including Mr. Colbert in the last election, have undertaken faux candidacies. But his Super PAC riff is a real-world exercise, engaging in a kind of modeling by just doing what Super PACs do.

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“I am much taken by this and can’t think of any real parallel in history,” said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. “Yes, comedians have always told jokes about elections, but this is quite different. This is a funny person being very serious, actually talking about process. What comedian talks about process?”

Mr. Colbert not only talks about process, he has become a part of it. The current law governing political action committees was laid down in a 2010 Supreme Court ruling, which lifted many restrictions on how corporations, unions and others could spend money on behalf of almost any cause.

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Continue reading “The New York Times: “Comic’s PAC Is More Than a Gag”.” »

Categories: Colbert SuperPAC, Media Mentions Tags: Article, Colbert SuperPac, Media Mentions, New York Times, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report

They knew it even then. A quarter-century ago, when Comedy Central bloviator and lushly coiffed American icon Stephen Colbert was part of a short-lived improv troupe — the No Fun Mud Piranhas — at Northwestern University in Evanston, castmates were wowed by his natural ability to bring the funny.

And not just zany funny, though he was that, but smart funny — funny that seemed to come from an intellect sharpened by far more real-world experience than the bearded and shaggy-haired dramatic actor, then 21 and a junior-year transfer, actually had. It was the start of something big.
Continue reading “Article: Stephen Colbert Showed ‘Great Wit’ as Part of ‘80s Improv Group at NU.” »

Categories: Articles Tags: Article, Improv, Interview, No Fun Mud Piranhas, Northwestern University, Stephen Colbert