George Clooney must have laughed heartily, but he and Helen Thomas were probably the only two who did. The rest of the room decided to crawl into the valley of depression the president was by then inhabiting. Laura Bush, meanwhile, creditably portrayed Medusa. Alas for her, she was unable to turn Colbert into stone as he then acknowledged the great big elephant in the room. “Joe Wilson is here, the most famous husband since Desi Arnaz. And of course he brought along his lovely wife Valerie Plame. Oh, my god! Oh, what have I said. I am sorry, Mr. President, I meant to say he brought along his lovely wife, Joe Wilson’s wife.”
Had it been any other network, the camera would then have cut to Karl Rove’s face. However, Steve Scully was probably standing with a knife at the cameraman’s throat by then so all we saw was Valerie Plame throwing her head back to laugh.
Colbert wound up with an ‘audition’ tape he’d made for the post of press secretary. Let’s just say it made Scott McClellan look good by comparison. Or it would have if it hadn’t been busy pillorying him. Finally, the tape ended… with Colbert screaming in horror as he falls prey to a beady eyed Helen Thomas on a quest for the truth and nothing but. And you could almost feel the tension snap as the evening drew to a close.
The President perfunctorily shook hands and muttered something [Colbert says he said “Good job!”] before scuttling out the door with his wife, who merely inclined her head when Colbert paused by her chair. A phalanx of official types gathered on the opposite side of the dais to huddle and confer even as Colbert laughed and talked to members of the audience – from the look of things he was accepting compliments rather than spitballs and brick bats.
As C-Span began to once more air the arrivals and departures of various guests — Helen Thomas delightfully mugging for the cameras, Valerie Plame looking like what every Bond girl wants to be, and George Clooney lost in a sea of women — I sat back on my couch and picked up my jaw from the floor.
I mean, the jokes weren’t that funny – they were the kind that make you grin more than hold on to your stomach and the faithful will notice that some of the material was recycled from the show. But in a world obsessed with adapting oneself to the audience in a vain attempt to be loved by more and more people, Stephen Colbert stuck to his fake-pundit guns. He didn’t pull his punches, he wasn’t intimidated by a milieu that was far different from his own [or if he was, he kept it to himself] and he was exactly who he is on his show.
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?