Comments on: Lori Lippman Brown on Colbert

By: Lars

Lars — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:43:30 +0000

Autumn wrote: “(…) my point remains: we now have higher standards for our comedians than we do for our journalists.”

That’s profound. You dirty, dirty boy/girl.

By: Torbjörn Larsson, OM

Torbjörn Larsson, OM — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:29:50 +0000

But the contrast to O’Reilly must be among the third iteration or so of the basis of Colbert’s funniness (and a sad statement on US social scene); I rather appreciate him for his sarcastic wit. Which shines the more the victim doesn’t know how to answer it, so it’s a win-win for Colbert, the victim and the audience.

That said, it is truly enjoyable when Colbert becomes befuddled by, say, a quicker wit. Brown was far from that, instead it was a fair show all around.

Btw, conflating/rejecting personal taste of fun with/for an understanding of humor is much the same as rejecting cuisine for fast food joints – “it’s food, so it must be good”. But luckily taste differ.

By: Miranda

Miranda — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:21:37 +0000

Andrew,

I see your point. I can say that I did understand why it was supposed to be funny, but I just wasn’t humoured by it. I feel the same way about fart jokes too, and the Three Stooges (an old Cheers reference, if anyone’s old enough to remember it!) And I concede that the fact that I sympathize with the person and the subject matter probably didn’t help

Robbie,

I watch Colbert almost every night, and find him hilarious most of the time. I wasn’t critiquing Lori’s interview like it was “real”, I was critiquing the fact that she could probably have done a better job at responding to his humour. To be fair, his interviews have never been my favourite part of the show (his extremes feel a little awkward to me), although some are excellent. In fact, some of his best interviews are with people who can keep him off base a bit with their own humour .. Richard Brandson, Neil Young and Neil DeGrasse Tyson are few.

By: madge

madge — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:57:17 +0000

“Key change” LMAO!

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:01:22 +0000

“hit the harmony”

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:41:49 +0000

Steven made a point about christmas: the government IS trending toward being religion based.
He is the best satirist I’ve heard of since Ambrose Bierce.
HAving said that, I note, he has had some really good interviews, when his opponents,er, I mean, “guests”, are quicker on the uptake than he is, such as his interviews with Neil DeGrass Tyson.

It takes a genius to nail a genius. Any takers out there? Phil Plait? Phil Plait?

I watched Gary Kasparov hand Bill Mayer his butt on a platter. I like Bill, though he is sometimes just as woo-wooish as any right winger, such as when he became hysterical about the decline of honey bee populations. Apparently, Bills research staff missed references to similar declines in bee populations in the late 19th century. We’re not the ONLY cause of environmental disruptions. Sometimes it’s a natural consequence of crowding(viral origin).

Even mosquitos (male) have some pollinating capability, so we’re not all going to starve because bees are having difficulties.

I really like Steven, but maybe that’s because I really appreciate his extremist parody.

The more a guest can pull the rug from under Steven, the more they get to be serious. So, Phil, if/when you get on his show, be VERY, VERY quick,,,
,,,and laugh a lot,,,

GAry 7

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:37:02 +0000

Ey, Miranda.

If you didn’t find it funny then, by the definition of the term, you didn’t get the humor.

Doesn’t mean you’re stupid. You just didn’t get it. If I were to hazard a guess I’d say you didn’t get it because the issue being satirized was one you feel strongly about and so it made you uncomfortablet. Yeah?