Salon.com > Stephen Colbert

Must-see morning clip: Colbert on over-the-counter Plan B

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:13:00 +0000

The FDA, which apparently stands for the "Fornication Distribution Agenda" is "handing out hussy pills to 15-year-old girls" and Stephen Colbert is outraged:

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Bill Clinton joins Twitter

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Stephen Colbert might be feeling pretty disappointed with Bill Clinton right now.

The former U.S. president has joined Twitter, though opted not to adopt the handle Colbert picked out for him two weeks ago. Colbert registered @PrezBillyJeff for Clinton and sent a tweet Clinton dictated to him.

That handle was a little too informal for Clinton, it seems, who eventually switched the handle to plain ol' @BillClinton and started tweeting Wednesday.

The account was quickly verified, and Clinton already has more than 288,000 followers. In his first few tweets, Clinton told Colbert he was ready to start his "Twitter lessons."

Colbert seemed pleased that Clinton decided to take the plunge, though appeared dismayed that the former president failed to turn up to his Game of Thrones party.

Must-see morning clip: Stephen Colbert parodies “Accidental Racist”

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Inspired by Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's musical atrocity, "Accidental Racist," Stephen Colbert composed a song of his own: "Oopsie-Daisy Homophobe." Actor and LGBT activist Alan Cumming takes on LL Cool J's part:

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Must-see morning clip: Anthony Weiner gears for a comeback

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:22:00 +0000

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner is considering a mayoral run for New York. Cue the obligatory sex jokes, à la "The Colbert Report":

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Colbert forces Bill Clinton to join Twitter

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:34:00 +0000

Monday's episode of "The Colbert Report" was devoted to an interview with Bill Clinton at Clinton Global Initiative University, where Stephen Colbert took the opportunity to ask the former president why he's not on Twitter.

"I think I'm so insecure - what if you tweet and nobody tweets back? There is nothing worse than a friendless tweeter," Clinton said.

Colbert replied: "Well, sir, I took the liberty of opening you a Twitter account. Now @presidentclinton was taken, @williamjeffersonclinton was taken, but @prezbillyjeff was available."

Clinton then dictated his first tweet to Colbert:

[embedtweet id="320644561439436800"]

The account currently has almost 40,000 followers.

Watch:

Must-see morning clip: Stephen Colbert gets Bill Clinton on Twitter

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:12:00 +0000

"I'm insecure. What if you tweet, and nobody tweets back?" asked former president Bill Clinton on a special episode of "The Colbert Report" last night. "There's nothing worse than a friendless tweeter wandering around in cyberspace."

Colbert then created a Twitter account for Clinton with the handle PrezBillyJeff, and the two constructed his first tweet:

[embedtweet id="320644561439436800"]

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Must-see morning clip: Stephen Colbert introduces “six degrees of humping bacon”

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:12:00 +0000

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, puzzled a lot of people when he concluded that gay marriage could lead to beastiality. Thankfully, Stephen Colbert was able to break down Gohmert's sophisticated logic into terms the rest of America could understand: "Six degrees of humping bacon."

Double entendres ensue:

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Mark Sanford: Stephen Colbert’s not on the ticket

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:09:00 +0000

After winning a runoff race for the Republican nomination for Congress in South Carolina, former Gov. Mark Sanford said he's not worried that his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, has the backing of her famous brother.

"Well, you know, at the end of the day, Stephen Colbert's a very popular, you know, well-regarded comedian, but at the end of the day he's not on the ticket," Sanford said on MSNBC on Wednesday, according to TPM.

Addressing an internal poll from Colbert-Busch's campaign that shows her with a slight lead, Sanford said: "[W]e're going to have a debate about ideas, and I think that when people really begin to digest those ideas, some real strong contrasts in terms of where she would be vs. where I would be, I think that will substantially change a poll that I think now simply defines name and ID as people know it, not issue ID. And I think ultimately debates in campaigns are decided on issues."

It’s on: Sanford to face Colbert Busch for South Carolina House seat

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:40:00 +0000

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — The race for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat has turned into the big-name contest that political junkies were hoping for.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican trying to make a comeback after his political career was derailed by his admission of an extramarital affair, faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, in a May 7 special election.

Sanford defeated former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic in the GOP primary runoff Tuesday, clearing another hurdle in his quest for political redemption. He finished first last month in a 16-candidate field in the primary in the state's 1st Congressional District, which runs northeast along the coast from Hilton Head Island through Charleston and to the Georgetown County line.

Colbert Busch — who once worked in Washington as an intern for then-U.S. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C. — has had a lifelong dream of running for public office. The businesswoman has said jobs is a top priority for her campaign. Colbert Busch has worked in the shipping industry for years and is now on a leave of absence from her position as the director of business development for Clemson University's Wind Turbine Drive Testing Facility.

Colbert to hold two fundraisers for his sister’s campaign

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:21:00 +0000

Stephen Colbert will hold two fundraisers to raise money for his sister's campaign for Congress in South Carolina, in which she will likely face former Gov. Mark Sanford.

Politico reports:

An event in Washington featuring the Comedy Central host is scheduled for April 15, while Colbert and former investment banker Sallie Krawcheck will host a New York City event April 23; that event will be at Krawcheck’s home.

For the D.C. event, a minimum donation of $2,600 is required to attend the private reception, while general admission tickets to the fundraiser cost $500.

Leno and Fallon sing duet over “Tonight” show rumors, but Leno still holds grudge

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:02:00 +0000

Early Tuesday morning, NBC aired a sketch in which Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno, who are currently warring over Leno's coveted "Tonight" show spot, seemingly reconcile. Fallon asks Leno, "We're still friends, right?" The two then break out into a duet appropriately to "Tonight, Tonight" from Broadway musical "West Side Story," about two rival gangs in New York.

Fallon: Tonight, tonight, who's gonna host "Tonight"? Is it gonna be Jimmy or Jay? Tonight, tonight, where will they tape "Tonight"? In New York? Will it stay in L.A.?

Leno: Tonight, tonight, my ratings were all right. Twenty years, and I'm still in first place. Tonight, "Tonight", I've got Fox on the line. Or maybe I could take over for Dave?

In unison: Tonight, tonight. Why do they say we fight? I like you. You like me. We're okay. Tonight, tonight, who cares who hosts "Tonight"? We both just want our line the next day.

Peter Jackson gives first look into next “Hobbit” film

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:09:00 +0000

In March, Warner Bros. and director Peter Jackson held a live event from New Zealand in anticipation of the second film in "The Hobbit" trilogy, "The Desolation of Smaug." On Monday, Jackson posted a 6-minute clip from the event to his Facebook page, writing:

If you saw it, it was a pretty accurate picture of what life is like at the moment. Jabez and I sit in that editing room all day, every day, editing the second Hobbit movie, and we actually start on the third next week! A lot of that movie was shot nearly a year ago, so I'm looking forward to seeing it come alive, shot by shot in the cutting room. It's like assembling one of those complex 2000 piece jigsaw puzzles.

He reveals that unlike the first film, which had a linear plot, the second film "starts splitting into multiple story lines and we follow different characters as the story intensifies and the stakes go up" -- similar to the second film in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Jackson also fields a very detailed question from super-fan and self-acclaimed Tolkien nerd Stephen Colbert.

Colbert responds to Rove: No one’s trying to eat you

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:24:00 +0000

Karl Rove thinks that Stephen Colbert may have "anger management issues," but Colbert assured him on last night's "Colbert Report" that no one is trying to stab and eat him.

Rove had responded to "Ham Rove," the "dearly digested" ham version of himself, who served as Colbert's chief strategist for his Super PAC - and who Colbert stabbed to death last year.

“I don’t know whether that was working out his inner feelings, or encouraging maybe someone to maybe mimic him or just sort of being funny. But there was a little bit of anxiety in his stabs there," Rove said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday.

"Karl, there is no need for anxiety," Colbert said Monday. "I am in no way encouraging anybody to stab Karl Rove. There is a big different between Karl Rove and Ham Rove." But, he added, Easter is coming up, so "Karl, to avoid any confusion with Ham Rove, for the next week or so please avoid the urge to cover your face with pineapple rings."

Watch:

Must-see morning clip: Junot Diaz on teaching undocumented immigrants

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Junot Diaz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur grant for his writing, currently serves on the board of advisors at Freedom University in Georgia. The college is dedicated to teaching undocumented immigrants--an education that Diaz says is necessary as every undocumented immigrant is "a future American."

He frames the immigrant debate with what he calls the "Superman Question":"Superman comes, lands in America==he's one of these kids," he poses to Stephen Colbert. "He's illegal...and you've got to decide what we're going to do with Superman."

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Karl Rove addresses Colbert’s “Ham Rove”

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:20:00 +0000

In an interview with ABC News' "This Week," Karl Rove addressed Stephen Colbert's meat-based version of himself, named "Ham Rove," and how he felt when he watched Colbert stab it to death.

"He’s an entertainer, so he gets to be funny and exaggerate things and so forth," Rove said. "Though I have to admit, when he took out the knife and started stabbing it, I think he might need a little bit of professional counseling on his anger management issues."

He added: "I don’t know whether that was working out his inner feelings, or encouraging maybe someone to maybe mimic him or just sort of being funny. But there was a little bit of anxiety in his stabs there.”

Watch:

Colbert’s “Ham Rove” conference room in D.C. is now official

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:26:00 +0000

The Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C., has officially dedicated a conference room to "Ham Rove," Stephen Colbert's brutally murdered, meat-based political strategist.

Dave Weigel reports:

In his long, fruitless, strangely not-Emmy-winning battle for campaign finance transparency, Stephen Colbert has relied on the work of former FEC commissioner Trevor Potter and his Campaign Legal Center. In December, Cobert bestowed the CLC with a portrait of himself holding the FEC ruling that their work had earned him. Last night, the CLC held a small reception to show off the rest of the TV host's gift: A donation and a plaque, renaming the organization's conference room after Colbert's faux, murdered adviser Ham Rove.

In December, Colbert announced that the money he raised with his super PAC would be donated to the "Ham Rove Memorial Fund," which in turn distributed the funds to charities, as well as the campaign finance reform group. A condition of the donation was renaming the conference room.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch wins S.C. primary

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:28:00 +0000

Mark Sanford says he believes in "a God of second chances," and now the former South Carolina governor has taken the first step toward reviving a political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, always dreamed of a career in politics — and now she has a chance to realize that dream.

As Sanford advanced Tuesday night to an April 2 GOP runoff for an open congressional seat in a southern coastal district, Colbert Busch easily won the Democratic primary to earn a spot on the May 7 general election ballot.

The race has drawn national attention because of Sanford's well-known fall from grace and Colbert Busch's relationship to Stephen Colbert, who parodies a conservative political commentator as host of TV's "The Colbert Report."

Colbert Busch swamped perennial candidate Ben Frasier on Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination for the seat vacated by Tim Scott, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace fellow Republican Jim DeMint, now head of The Heritage Foundation.

Must-see morning clip: A millionaire space tourist is on a mission to Mars

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:17:00 +0000

What is the greatest reason to pursue science and innovation? For millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito, who wants to fly two people to Mars by 2018, it might impatience. "This brave entrepreneur will send two astronauts to Mars for the noblest reason there is: impatience." Colbert was reminded of John F. Kennedy's famous speech: "We chose to go to the Moon not because it was easy, but come on, how hard could it be."

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Must-see morning clip: Colbert recaps Obama’s State of the Union Address

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:30:00 +0000

In case you missed it, Stephen Colbert summarized President Obama's State of the Union Address on last night's "Colbert Report" as such: emphasis on middle class, big government, and minimum wage without a "maximum wage".

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Must-see morning clip: Director Behn Zeitlin on “The Colbert Report”

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:13:00 +0000

26 year-old Benh Zeitlin's first feature film "The Beasts of the Southern Wild," about one family's resilience in a Louisiana bayou, is up for four Oscar nominations. Last night he told Stephen Colbert about how the movie came to be and how the BP oil spill turned into an unexpected opportunity when filming: "We were literally negotiating with BP executives to get our cameras rolling in some of these locations." He added,"They [BP executives] were looking so bad that I think they actually thought 'Oh, we'll seem nice if we help these struggling filmmakers to get out there.' "

He also added that if the film wins an Oscar, he wants it to go to its 8 year-old star, Quvenzhané Wallis.