When news stories fall through the cracks, we here at Colbert News Hub catch it for a post we call “In the Press”.
We have been busier than a (insert folksy analogy here, but keep it clean!) It’s been tricky keeping track of all the press on Stephen and the show, lately, but it’s been fun too. It’s exciting to think that our guy is getting so much attention.
So here is more from the world of “Late Show” press and late night TV in general and a piece from the still gurgling pool of #CancelColbert. Yup, just when you thought it was safe….
Late Show Transition: Location, Location, Location
I don’t know about all of you fans on the east coast, but as a native New Englander, I am getting mighty anxious waiting for them to announce where the show will be based. I hope there will be some hints or even an announcement when Stephen appears on Letterman this Tuesday, the 22nd. For now, we have speculation:
The Battle for Colbert’s ‘Late Show’
This was from “Capital New York” on April 11th.
“With East Coast based host Stephen Colbert taking the reins of the ‘Late Show,’ it’s clear we should keep the show where it belongs – here in New York,” the governor said in a statement released yesterday. “I am calling CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves and urging that CBS continue the ‘Late Show’s’ history of filming in New York’s own legendary Ed Sullivan Theater… We must ensure that the ‘Late Show’s’ long and proud history of making the nation laugh from New York continues for years to come.”
A spokesman at the Empire State Development Corporation, which administers the new tax program NBC benefitted from when the network replaced Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” with New York-based host Jimmy Fallon, said he was not aware of any ongoing talks with CBS. He said the “Tonight Show” incentives would probably not apply to “Late Night” because they were designed to lure variety shows filmed elsewhere to come back to New York.
I admit that it would be a wealth of new material for Stephen to work with if he moved to another state, but I just can’t see him going to CA. I could see maybe New Jersey or Connecticut. They have those casinos in CT that attract lots of people and big names. To do a show near there would be different, but they’re too far for him to commute everyday. Even though they do get stars and lots of people, would it be enough for a nightly show?
Here is yet another city throwing their hat into the Late Show ring:
New Orleans Tries to Woo Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’
Very interesting. The Big Easy. It would be a boon for the city and it’s in the South, closer to Stephen’s heart. Uh-oh. This could be trouble for the Northeast. However, the staff would still have to completely relocate and would they be able to get the big names and audiences?
Acknowledging that New York and Los Angeles are the traditional locales for late night programming, the mayor wrote that he “would like to encourage [CBS] to add New Orleans to the mix.”
“Though it may seem like an unlikely fit, New Orleans and ‘The Late Show’ or its successor would be a great fit,” Landrieu wrote. “New Orleans is a brand unto itself and it is particularly attractive for the key demographic you are trying to reach. We offer you not only our unique culture and rich history, but attractive business incentives for film production.”
Landrieu added that having so many movies film in the city would make scheduling guests for interviews on “The Late Show” extremely easy.
In any event, I think if he doesn’t land in New Orleans permanently, he should do a week of shows there. Time of year to do it? I don’t know, are there any big events held there annually? Like around February maybe?
The Talk-Stephen Colbert to Replace Letterman
This is from “The Talk” which is a “View” type of show with 5 hosts. They are welcoming Stephen to CBS. They heap praise on him. I wonder if any of them are fangirls? He may have to go be a guest on that show.
At the end of the clip, it would appear that Julie Chen is about to reveal something about where the new Late Show will be located. Since she is married to Les Moonves, I thought she might know something. Fair warning, at about 3:11 into it, you might want to smack your screen, where she is sitting.
Click the headline to get to the video, embedding was not allowed.
Late Show Transition: The “Real” Stephen Colbert
A Wit for All Seasons
Written for The New York Times by Maureen Dowd on April 12th.
I think most of us here in the Hub feel that we know at least a little bit of the real Stephen so it’s weird whenever someone talks about how “we don’t know who he is”.
In person, Colbert is a nice guy, but not as monologue-monomaniacal as Jay Leno. Colbert has lived the life of a suburban soccer dad and Catholic Church-going Sunday school teacher in Montclair, N.J., with a beautiful wife he’s nuts about, Evie McGee, and three kids.
He’s not an ingratiating boy next door, like Jimmy Fallon, or a scorchingly candid curmudgeon, like Letterman.
No one, including the CBS president, Les Moonves, and the host himself, is sure what his new show will be like because we’ve so rarely seen Colbert when he wasn’t playing a character.
This is a nice piece and many of these pieces ask about or talk about how the “real” Stephen will do on a traditional late night show:
The Real Colbert Will Triumph on Late Night
Written by Ian Crouch for The New Yorker on April 11th.
Colbert’s increasing visibility over the years has made those who remain confused about him, or who don’t get the joke, all the more perplexing. That, at least at first, seemed to be at the heart of the recent #CancelColbert Twitter controversy, in which a tweet sent from an official Comedy Central account, which quoted Colbert out of context using racist language toward Asian Americans, led to backlash online. Defenders of Colbert were enraged by the seeming naiveté of many who called for Colbert’s job: it was satire, after all, and anyone who didn’t get that was a lost cause to reason.
Can ‘Stephen Colbert’ Transition to Stephen Colbert?
This was from Mashable, April 12th by Todd Wasserman.
Josh Feldmeth, CEO of Interbrand New York, Toronto, and San Francisco, says Colbert also has to overcome his association with liberal politics. “If you dig into the demo, there’s a pretty strong ideological lean,” he says. “It probably doesn’t match up one-to-one with the Late Show demo.” Adamson points out that late-night talk show hosts have traditionally been at least perceived as politically neutral. “They may not have appealed to everyone, but they didn’t offend anyone,” he says. “They were middle-of-the-road. Colbert may be polarizing.”
That may be the case, but Henry Schafer, EVP of The Q Scores Co., which measures celebs’ popularity, says Colbert’s association with liberal politics has led to an impassioned following among the desired 18-34 year-old demo. Colbert’s ranking in the Q Score, which measures the percentage of people who say a celeb is among their favorites, is higher than Jimmy Fallon’s or Jimmy Kimmel’s, but he’s less well known.
I was thinking about this idea the other day. I imagine once CBS gets closer to the day, we will be seeing huge amounts of promos for the new Late Show. I hope they don’t overdo it. Network? Overdo it? Nah, that would never happen. Right?
As for now, though, once ‘The Colbert Report’ ends, they should give us glimpses of the version of Stephen that we will see before the show even gets promoted.
Leftovers: #CancelColbert
If you are wondering why this is still making news, well, I am too. There’s really no other reason but that people just love talking about Stephen. That’s gotta be it.
3 Modern Satirists Screwed by People Who Didn’t Get the Joke
This was written by someone who goes by the name Gladstone, for Cracked on April 19th.
I examined three people in comedy who were attacked in the last year or so. As I studied the backlash, I realized something: Very often, people’s problem with satire has nothing to do with a lack of brains or humor — it’s a lack of faith. They have either no faith that the artist is saying something less than horrible or no faith in humanity to hear ironic words and still appreciate the true message. Let’s take a look at three people who might have escaped criticism if we just had a little more of that kind of faith.
That’s an interesting take on it. Okay, read on. Yes, the first satirist is Stephen.
Park’s lack of faith is not with Colbert, of whom she claims to be a fan, but the rest of society. She does not believe people can hear uncomfortable or provocative jokes in any context that would justify their use without adding fuel to the fire of racism.
And that’s really too bad, because satire as a form of social change is most effective when it raises a listener to a point of discomfort. There’s a reason Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is held up as a pinnacle of satire. It’s because he found a way to mock both indifference to the poor and wrong-headed social programs by suggesting that the babies of the afflicted class be sold and eaten. I believe in that kind of satire. Stephen Colbert believes in that kind of satire, although he only touched upon that lightly in his own defense.
The next is Andy Levy. Uh-oh. I am remembering a bit Stephen did with Obama’s shoe on the desk…
Levy is referring to what he felt was Colbert’s previous unfair attack of him. Months ago, a photo surfaced of President Obama putting his foot on the Oval Office desk, and some horrible people like Matt Drudge decided to express their outrage. Colbert mocked this outrage, but also included a clip of Levy on Red Eye as one of the people he was mocking. The problem is, Levy was also mocking the outrage.
At the time this happened, I was wondering if Stephen would bring this up at all. He didn’t and I don’t think he should have. Yes, it’s true that someone who gathers clips for the montages didn’t realize Levy was a comedian at Fox News.
Wait, let’s just let those words sink in for a minute … a comedian at Fox News … or should I say, an ACTUAL comedian at Fox News.
However, if you watch the clip from The Colbert Report, you could say that even if they had realized and taken out the clips from Red Eye, the bit still stands on its own. There really was outrage from the right, obviously, because Red Eye was mocking it.
The thing is, in TCR’s defense, (adopts a whispering tone) the majority of people have never heard of Red Eye. (regular tone again) Andy Levy does have a legitimate beef, but in a way he was probably excited when it happened because a) it got him exposure and b) he was doing satire that fooled one of the best satirists out there.
Oh and I should mention that the third comedian is Patton Oswalt and it involves Asians, but not Suey Park, surprisingly.
So that’s part 2 and I’m fairly certain there will be a part 3, so stay tuned.
In The Press: Late Show Transition Edition [Part 2]
When news stories fall through the cracks, we here at Colbert News Hub catch it for a post we call “In the Press”.
We have been busier than a (insert folksy analogy here, but keep it clean!) It’s been tricky keeping track of all the press on Stephen and the show, lately, but it’s been fun too. It’s exciting to think that our guy is getting so much attention.
So here is more from the world of “Late Show” press and late night TV in general and a piece from the still gurgling pool of #CancelColbert. Yup, just when you thought it was safe….
Late Show Transition: Location, Location, Location
I don’t know about all of you fans on the east coast, but as a native New Englander, I am getting mighty anxious waiting for them to announce where the show will be based. I hope there will be some hints or even an announcement when Stephen appears on Letterman this Tuesday, the 22nd. For now, we have speculation:
The Battle for Colbert’s ‘Late Show’
This was from “Capital New York” on April 11th.
I admit that it would be a wealth of new material for Stephen to work with if he moved to another state, but I just can’t see him going to CA. I could see maybe New Jersey or Connecticut. They have those casinos in CT that attract lots of people and big names. To do a show near there would be different, but they’re too far for him to commute everyday. Even though they do get stars and lots of people, would it be enough for a nightly show?
Here is yet another city throwing their hat into the Late Show ring:
New Orleans Tries to Woo Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’
Very interesting. The Big Easy. It would be a boon for the city and it’s in the South, closer to Stephen’s heart. Uh-oh. This could be trouble for the Northeast. However, the staff would still have to completely relocate and would they be able to get the big names and audiences?
In any event, I think if he doesn’t land in New Orleans permanently, he should do a week of shows there. Time of year to do it? I don’t know, are there any big events held there annually? Like around February maybe?
The Talk-Stephen Colbert to Replace Letterman
This is from “The Talk” which is a “View” type of show with 5 hosts. They are welcoming Stephen to CBS. They heap praise on him. I wonder if any of them are fangirls? He may have to go be a guest on that show.
At the end of the clip, it would appear that Julie Chen is about to reveal something about where the new Late Show will be located. Since she is married to Les Moonves, I thought she might know something. Fair warning, at about 3:11 into it, you might want to smack your screen, where she is sitting.
Click the headline to get to the video, embedding was not allowed.
Late Show Transition: The “Real” Stephen Colbert
A Wit for All Seasons
Written for The New York Times by Maureen Dowd on April 12th.
I think most of us here in the Hub feel that we know at least a little bit of the real Stephen so it’s weird whenever someone talks about how “we don’t know who he is”.
This is a nice piece and many of these pieces ask about or talk about how the “real” Stephen will do on a traditional late night show:
The Real Colbert Will Triumph on Late Night
Written by Ian Crouch for The New Yorker on April 11th.
Can ‘Stephen Colbert’ Transition to Stephen Colbert?
This was from Mashable, April 12th by Todd Wasserman.
I was thinking about this idea the other day. I imagine once CBS gets closer to the day, we will be seeing huge amounts of promos for the new Late Show. I hope they don’t overdo it. Network? Overdo it? Nah, that would never happen. Right?
As for now, though, once ‘The Colbert Report’ ends, they should give us glimpses of the version of Stephen that we will see before the show even gets promoted.
Leftovers: #CancelColbert
If you are wondering why this is still making news, well, I am too. There’s really no other reason but that people just love talking about Stephen. That’s gotta be it.
3 Modern Satirists Screwed by People Who Didn’t Get the Joke
This was written by someone who goes by the name Gladstone, for Cracked on April 19th.
That’s an interesting take on it. Okay, read on. Yes, the first satirist is Stephen.
The next is Andy Levy. Uh-oh. I am remembering a bit Stephen did with Obama’s shoe on the desk…
At the time this happened, I was wondering if Stephen would bring this up at all. He didn’t and I don’t think he should have. Yes, it’s true that someone who gathers clips for the montages didn’t realize Levy was a comedian at Fox News.
Wait, let’s just let those words sink in for a minute … a comedian at Fox News … or should I say, an ACTUAL comedian at Fox News.
However, if you watch the clip from The Colbert Report, you could say that even if they had realized and taken out the clips from Red Eye, the bit still stands on its own. There really was outrage from the right, obviously, because Red Eye was mocking it.
The thing is, in TCR’s defense, (adopts a whispering tone) the majority of people have never heard of Red Eye. (regular tone again) Andy Levy does have a legitimate beef, but in a way he was probably excited when it happened because a) it got him exposure and b) he was doing satire that fooled one of the best satirists out there.
Oh and I should mention that the third comedian is Patton Oswalt and it involves Asians, but not Suey Park, surprisingly.
So that’s part 2 and I’m fairly certain there will be a part 3, so stay tuned.