In the Press: November 2011

When news stories fall through the cracks, we here at Colbert News Hub catch it for a post we call “In the Press”.

  • The University of Virginia’s College Arts Scholars Program was recently expanded thanks to a gift from Evelyn McGee Colbert (Class of ’85) and her husband, Stephen T. Colbert. You can read more about it at U.Va.’s website.
  • Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and a few more of our favorites have made it on Time’s List of the 140 Best Twitter Feeds. Read more at Time.com!
  • You may recall Stephen’s challenge to News 8 Daybreak to investigate the conspiracy surrounding the latest Colbert Super PAC ad and WFAA. Well, News 8 stepped up to the challenge… sort of.
  • Check out some of the best emails the Nation has sent to the FEC concerning Karl Rove’s Super PAC request.
  • Finally, Chevy Chase discusses comedy with the LA Times and has some strong opinions related to our interests.

    Do you have some periods of “Saturday Night Live” that you like better than others?

    My favorite period was the one I was on. In retrospect, I even have to say that. And I don’t mean that in a narcissistic way. I mean, those were my friends. These were the people I’d been working with over the years. But notwithstanding that, I think that this latest cast of the last two years has been very good. It’s kind of funny to see “Weekend Update” turn into its own show. Mine was about five minutes long.

    A generation later, Jon Stewart has continued to evolve the form.

    I’ve passed by it. I’ve never watched a full one of him or of the other guy.

    Stephen Colbert.

    Who I think is very bright.

    Is it hard for you to watch them?

    It’s hard to watch television. It’s not a reflection on what they’re doing.

    Sometimes it’s hard to watch other people do something related to what you’ve done.

    Oh, you mean stealing it? That’s exactly right. It’s not hard. I lose interest. By the way, I like to laugh, and I like to make people laugh, and I think I’m very good at it. I don’t tend to laugh at Jon Stewart or Colbert. I feel much more as if there’s a desperation to their performances, that they are not just naturally funny physical people. Frankly, I tend to see humor as physical. I mean, that could be confusing, but I’m not talking about a pratfall. I’m talking about the much more difficult and smaller fine point of physicality that involves the way the eyes are looking or the raising of the brow, those things to me are the things that resonate with people. I’m not so sure the commentary on those shows hasn’t already been covered by the Onion or by “SNL.” Generally speaking, what’s being said or done seems to have, to me, more of a desperate quality.