Only to be disappointed see that it was an old episode? Yet another vacation, at this time, shows a lack of dedication, or a lack of programming smarts on CBS's part--I don't know who is ultimately repsonsible. But perhaps I am pre-judging, and perhaps he was just ill. Anybody know?
shareI dislike Stephen Colbert as the only late night host who wants to have his cake and eat it too. I understand Bill Maher's animus for him. Colbert is too vocal about his (necessarily conservative) Catholicism and the behaviors being Catholic brings with it. So for him to make hay out of the specific Republican candidate in this election--in order to support the specific Democratic candidate--is boring, repetitive, pretentious, rather cruel, and anti-Catholic.
shareI didn't realize satire was anti-Catholic. Lots of smart people I know are religious--it's just part of imprinting as a child which is difficult to overcome unless you have a huge intellect a la Marian Evans (I know that's ages ago but I just happen to now be reading Adam Bede).
And it's oh so cruel to make fun of poor Donny--such a nice man, isn't he? Wake up!
I'm not cruel. I won't tell you how Adam Bede ends--although I *will* venture the opinion that Marian Evans' intellect and imagination were boring as all hell.
Satire is satire if it's democratic with targets. Colbert chides Clinton but mocks Trump. Colbert is funny, but his humor is full of noblesse oblige. I started watching him because Kimmel has that really annoying sidekick and Fallon is, or at least was, too fashionable. Johnny Carson always seemed to invite people to laugh at him as they laughed with him. Colbert is too aristocratic. My friend, he is no Adam Bede.
That figures, you only read novels for the plot. I have read Adam Bede two or three times already, just not in many years. Great writing resides in the telling and now what is told. Your critique of George Eliot stands as your own indictment.
And I have heard Colbert make jokes at Hillary's expense, but you have to admit, there's just so much more material for Trump jokes. I agree that Kimmel and Fallon are lightweights, and Carson was OK, for his time.
I read novels for everything the nonpareil genius who wrote it *doesn't* say. George Eliot was humorless, verbose, didactic, and proud. But this is all off-topic.
I'm not the kind of IMDB person who says "that figures" about other posters. You must be either very young and full of passionate conviction (hint: Yeats), or elderly and cranky, to say that Johnny Carson "was OK, for his time." If Carson hadn't been as brilliant at what he did, no future late-night talk show host would want to emulate him. Topical political humor doesn't have a long shelf life, so if you're watching Johnny Carson on an over-the-air channel running repeats, you're watching him through tons of cultural and technological filters.
I started to read this thread because of the subject header. I'm eager to hear jokes about politicians if the jokes don't start feeling like lectures. And Stephen Colbert makes fun, sometimes viciously, of a candidate whose foibles are so unbelievably on public display, it's sad. I wonder how he'd feel if someone went into his past so remorselessly. If his aura wasn't holier than thou, it wouldn't feel quite so hypocritical.
Enjoy the election. Happy Motoring.
"I read novels for everything the nonpareil genius who wrote it *doesn't* say."
Huh? Sounds like the thoroughly debunked philosophy of deconstructionism. So it seems that without your superior genius the works of Eliot, Austen, James, Joyce, Conrad, et al. would have no value, or there would be no universal truths to be found and no truthful depictions of human actions and emotions that relate to all humanity, and so create a common, shared sense of who we all are; they merely provide hints that only you with your superior intellect can discern.
You are old and yet you stand on your head. Do you think at your age that is right?
[deleted]
Catholicism is not a single political perspective. You have your modern conservative Bill O'Reilly's, but you also have millions of Kennedy democrats. If JFK studied improv, had a Lord of the Rings fetish, his own TV show and was faithful to his wife, he'd be Stephen Colbert. Stephen was born after JFK's passing, but it's crystal clear that Stephen's mother- his political mentor, worshiped at the JFK altar, as probably 99.9% of Catholics did at that time.
These children of JFK are just as much Catholic as Bill O'Reilly. Have you heard the Pope lately? He chooses his words very wisely and clearly isn't pro choice or pro marriage equality, but he has moved the needle in a very democratic direction in recent years.
While there has definitely been a shift towards conservatism in the last couple decades, Kennedy Catholics still outnumber the converts. If one were purely looking at the numbers and the history, one could look at the O'Reilly Catholic's minority and call them the aberration from the Kennedy tradition- a blip on the radar. But this isn't about a majority ruling a religion, but, rather, it's about a large umbrella with varying political approaches.
And, for the record, TV is a business. The demographic that advertisers have trouble reaching, that advertisers care about, is the Bernie loving millenials, NOT the older Trump fans. As long as the younger generation leans WAY left, that's the programming you're going to see. I know you look at Colbert and have issues with his liberalness, but, believe it or not, what's absolutely killing him ratings wise isn't his liberalness, but his conservatism- his middle of the roadness. When he was leaning the furthest left in his old show, he was getting about double the viewers that he's getting now.
If he really cared about his ratings, about still having a job this time next year, he would ramp up his anti-Trump rhetoric a thousandfold. But he doesn't want to be mean any more, so he goes easy on him- relatively speaking. Have you caught any of Seth Meyers? That's the audience Stephen used to have. Meyers Trump jokes are venomous- which is what you have to have if you want the younger generation.
If he really cared about his ratings, about still having a job this time next year, he would ramp up his anti-Trump rhetoric a thousandfold. But he doesn't want to be mean any more, so he goes easy on him- relatively speaking.
No, he's not ill...because yesterday was Columbus Day, both his show and Corden's shows are off this week.
shareI haven't sat down and counted the number of vacation days Stephen has taken, but I think it's very safe to say that he's off more than both Kimmel and Fallon. While I have no doubt that, during his hire, he negotiated additional time to spend with his family, and I can understand his motivations, this much time off isn't doing his ratings any favors- and, right now, that's the last thing he needs.
If things are going well, sure, be with your family. But if you're in last place, and falling, then I think it might be time to reassess your priorities.
I'm not eager to hear about Trump at this point, so I'll need to take a break from the show, based on how much Trump stuff there was in the first act of tonight's show.
share