Right about now, Mark Smith, the White House Correspondents Association’s outgoing president is probably thinking some very unkind thoughts about his successor Steve Scully and it all has to do with the most underreported story of the weekend – Stephen Colbert’s starring turn as the “featured entertainment” at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
If you’ve never heard of this event at all, it’s because it’s televised on C-Span. Unless you’re a political junkie, you probably know the rerun dates of Xena better than where to find C-Span on your cable menu. However, you may have heard of the many gentle funnies spawned at this dinner – last year, Laura Bush hit the headlines after she described herself as a Desperate Housewife and poked fun at her husband’s inability to pronounce the word “nuclear” at this same occasion while her husband chuckled genially from the dais.
This year, the President stood up to speak – right next to his TV doppelganger Steve Bridges. Real Bush and Fake Bush did a funny ha-ha little routine where they once again made fun of Real Bush’s continuing inability to pronounce the word “nuclear.” Well, that explains the First Lady’s obsession with education – it must be frustrating when your grown husband can’t learn one word in a whole year.
Finally, amidst much applause and hilarity, the President and his TV Twin wound up their act and sat down. Meanwhile, an unseen commentator (probably under orders from Steve Scully, who happens to work for C-Span) informed the audience at home that this dinner is famous not for its “featured entertainment” but for its flip Presidential addresses and the gathering of the illustrious from the world of journalism – and Hollywood, I noticed. But then, George Clooney is very hard not to notice, not to mention James Denton. Also in the crowd were Alex Trebek, Ludacris, Ben Rothlisberger, and Laurence Fishburne. A little something for everyone.
Then Mark Smith got up to introduce Stephen Colbert. While he’d mentioned before that he was not too familiar with Colbert’s work, he now explained that his unfamiliarity extended to the fact that his company, Associated Press, had been identified as a “Threat to America” on Colbert’s show. Why? It failed to attribute the genesis of the word “truthiness” to Colbert.
At this point you know two things – a) Mark Smith is a hermit and b) Mark Smith has no idea what lies in store for him. After all, Colbert’s the man who, back in the day, said the Correspondents’ Dinners were a chance for the Press and the White House to reaffirm that “We are both entrenched oligarchies with a stake in the survival of the status quo.”
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
Terrific and timely Amrita, thanks!
2 - grayday101
You think they really didn't know who they booked?
I will cherish those few painful moments forever.
Speak truthiness to power forever, Stephen!
Just hope he isn't broadcasting from Canada in future...
3 - Bonnie
Great review, Amrita. You leave me wishing that I'd seen it for myself.
4 - stickdog
Click the URL under my name to see the entire Colbert performance on youtube.com.
5 - lezlie
great article! thanks!
6 - RedTard
That's exactly what everyone on the right has come to expect from the liberal media. Those people control you like lemmings and you love it.
No wonder 5 of the 6 greatest genocides in history have been committed by leftists, you guys work yourselves up into a frenzy of blind hate which I find totally revolting.
7 - glamberson
Wonderful. This was such a great performance, and it is shameful how it is being ignored.
8 - ss
re comment #6
Steven Colbert is personally responsible for five of the six greatest genocides in history? The man I once called Lincolnish?
He's dead to me.
9 - agnostic-1
Superb analysis. You kicked it right in the gonads, something Colbert has an abundance of, while the correspondents in attendence have lost theirs in the aftermath of 9/11
If only the cameras had covered the presidential facial responses with a closer shot. That, too, would have been priceless.
Do you really believe that the outgoing president, Mark Smith, had no clue about Colbert? Or that he simply pled ignorance in honor of the White House guests? After all, willful ignorance is what they practice over there.
No, Smith knew precisely what he was doing. By pimping the main stream media as much as the oafish, war-mongering president with whom we now suffer, Smith started something good. He got the press corpse to wake up from the dead.
10 - Dave Nalle
Glamberson, the White House Correspondents dinner never gets any coverage. And it always has someone speaking who takes the president to task. I'm sure he's used to it by now. I also doubt it was a surprise at all, since Colbert regularly does the same schtick on his show 3 times a week.
The truth is that his jibes were relatively mild and of the sort which the president has taken in stride before. In fact, they're rather similar to the kind of self-deprecating humor the president himself uses on a regular basis.
Dave
11 - Aaron Barlow
Thanks. Now here's a question: why was this not considered newsworthy by most of the media?
12 - Dave Nalle
The serious newsmedia doesn't like to cover itself, and that's a good thing. It leads to the horrible incestuous back-patting we saw recently with the Katie Couric career move.
And the Correspondents Dinner is a relatively inside-affair and I suspec they'd rather not have it over exposed.
Dave
13 - Matthew T. Sussman
The best line was the Valerie Plame joke. The sketch at the end was rather drawn out. And yes I heard some of those other jokes already.
14 - de thoth
that'd be dais, hon..
spellcheck take the "day off" ?
15 - scavok
This story is under-reported because the beltway media does not like being told, to their faces, that they are not doing their job and are complicit with this administration in its crimes.
16 - Amrita
Hey everybody - thanks for reading! To answer the most frequently asked question about Smith and how much he knew - I dont know. :)
On the one hand, he appears pretty clueless. In the weeks before he was puffing off the fact that colbert was making an appearance but one got the feeling that he'd just watched a few shows once Colbert's name was brought up to familiarize himself with the man. Then he said he didnt know about the truthiness fiasco. But on the other hand he was pretty quick to dump all responsibility on Scully. Click the first link in the article for the interview he gave.
@ RedTard - why do I get the feeling that you're not what you seem? Anyhoo, Colbert is one of those interestingly placed people - he says he was never especially political before he started working with Jon Stewart and since he began his show [which is hilariously based on "Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly"] he has managed to confuse people on both the right and the left as to his political leanings. In fact, one commentator on another blog mentioned that this was the first time he could definitively make out Colbert's side of the fence.
@ Dave Nalle - I agree that the guest speaker always ribs the President. But if you see the tapes you can clearly see Bush go from a "whatever" grin to a "Oh no you didnt" grim. Pretty funny even with awkward camera angles I thought - but that's just me. However, according to Editor & Publisher, the one org that actually reported it, several people on the condition of anonymity felt the burn on the President's behalf and thought it was more than a joke. And the President himself couldnt wait to get out of the room.
@ Aaron Barlow - I dont agree with Dave that the news media hates to report on itself. I think most of them have no idea how to report it. can they go after him for being "partisan" when he does it every day on his show and everyone applauds him for his satire [which stretches to the right and left btw] safe in the knowledge that only 1 million or so people watch him compared to the millions who tune in to such blowhards as Anderson Cooper and Bill O'Reilly? And I dont think they can applaud him because - well, he made them uncomfortable. Really REALLY uncomfortable. Like leap off the screen of my TV uncomfortable. If you get C-Span check if they're re-airing it and see for yourself. I dont think the net videos adequately convey the awkwardness you could see on TV.
@ de thoth - thank you! Its not my spell check, its entirely my sloppiness.
17 - Thank you Stephen
http://thankyoustephencolbert.org/
18 - El Bicho
Red, that's absolutely ridiculous. The room was filled with the liberal media and there was more gasps and uncomfortableness than laughs. If your theory was correct, there would have been whooping it up to embarrass and humiliate the President even more, but I wouldn't want facts to get in the way of your truthiness.
Dave, I watch these regularly. The speaker does usually take the President and the press to task, but everyone is usually laughing. Jay Leno and Darrell Hammond didn't make the room this awkward. The President didn't seem amused at all based on the cutaways. I haven't seen it so uncomfortable since Don Imus. I also disagree that the serious media doesn't like to cover itself.
I thought Colbert was amusing, laughed out loud a couple of times, but had heard some jokes from his show. The video went on waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long, very anti-climactic.
19 - JELIEL³
I put the videos up on my blog if anyone wants to watch it.
I thought he hit where it hurts and at least someone had the balls to do it. It felt more like a huge critique than a skit or humor. Much needed sarcastic bitch slapping was handed out and it had to be Colbert to do it. (Either him or The Pundit Show killer Stewart)
20 - zingzing
yeah, dave, bush constantly claims responsibility for the plame thing and likes to talk about how iraq's government is less than effective. yes, yes. reminds me of his self-deprecating humor, yes. mmhmm. bullshit.
21 - Phillip Winn
Stephen Colbert is hilarious, and his performance at the dinner was no exception (though the video went on too long), but Bush didn't seem put out from what I could see.
All in all, this seems to be a tempest in a teacup. People need to watch a few more of these before getting too excited.
22 - Pat Riot
Hey Red Tard!
5 of the Greatest 5 Democracies have been started by leftists (including the one you so luckily live in)!
23 - Michael J. West
No wonder 5 of the 6 greatest genocides in history have been committed by leftists, you guys work yourselves up into a frenzy of blind hate which I find totally revolting.
Yeah. You certainly wouldn't be caught DEAD in a frenzy of blind hate. Obviously.
24 - RedTard
"5 of the Greatest 5 Democracies have been started by leftists"
You guys love democracy especially when there's only one party-one choice. I doubt most of the founding fathers of this country would get anywhere near the modern left, too much distrust of big government, but that's an academic debate. And yes, I am lucky to live here where the government is currently unable to shut me up.
"You certainly wouldn't be caught DEAD in a frenzy of blind hate."
I hope not.
25 - Michael J. West
What do you think Comment 6 was?