Category: Stephen Colbert

The Truth Behind Truthiness

The music that played under the end credits to the finale of “The Colbert Report” was “Holland, 1945”, a 1998 song by Neutral Milk Hotel.

Why did Stephen Colbert pick that particular song? It’s explained at this link to a Maureen Dowd column.

[Colbert] had 10 older siblings. But after his father and the two brothers closest to him in age died in a plane crash when he was 10 and the older kids went off to college, he said, he was “pretty much left to himself, with a lot of books.”

He said he loved the “strange, sad poetry” of a song called “Holland 1945” by an indie band from Athens, Ga., called Neutral Milk Hotel and sent me the lyrics, which included this heartbreaking bit:

“But now we must pick up every piece

Of the life we used to love

Just to keep ourselves

At least enough to carry on. . . .

And here is the room where your brothers were born

Indentions in the sheets

Where their bodies once moved but don’t move anymore.”

Comedy Central Casting

I don’t have to post all of the screen grabs I made with great effort from Colbert’s finale, because Josh Marshall’s site Talking Points Memo has their own, and they identify everybody. TPM also embeds the video, and I will too.

I knew Emily Bazelon would make an appearance. Colbert often had her on the show as a “guest at the desk.” Besides being an excellent reference source, it was obvious Stephen was smitten with Emily, but his wife Evelyn is also on stage, so no worries.

The Cold Beer Rapport

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“All of life’s important answers, must be in the form of a question.” So says Alex Trebek, and so ends “The Colbert Report”. It’s been a wacky, brilliant, and inspiring 9-year ride with Stephen Colbert, who has caught up to the age I was when his show began. Later I’ll be posting pictures of everybody, or almost everybody, who joins Stephen to sing “We’ll Meet Again”, the same song that ends “Dr. Strangelove”, which adds an ironic twist to Henry Kissinger’s presence.

Cerfing the Net

It’s going to be a while, probably well into 2015, before we see Stephen Colbert on CBS, shorn of his faux cable news persona. The truth is that I am rarely staying up late enough on weeknights anymore to watch Colbert, so I use the DVR catch up on the weekends.

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf was on The Colbert Report recently, and although he was interesting he took too much credit for himself and Bob Kahn. Why no mention of Bob Taylor, who originally envisioned the Arpanet and got it up and running before joining Xerox PARC? Cerf should also have given an up-front shout-out to Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web which is, let’s face it, what most people think the Internet is.

He had a dream… now he has the money

This came in the mourning mail from Stephen Colbert…

Dear Super Loved Ones,

I write this letter with a heavy heart and elevated cholesterol. Earlier today, our advisor and chief strategist, Ham Rove, passed away. Authorities believe he repeatedly tripped and fell onto a knife several dozen times. Later some dogs ate him. It was all quite tragic.

When it comes to describing how important Ham Rove was to Colbert Super PAC, I find myself at a loss for unsubpoenaed words. Ham Rove did everything for this organization, particularly any of the things that an angry donor or federal official might want answers to.

Due to Ham Rove’s timely passing, I am announcing that Colbert Super PAC is shutting down effective immediately. During this time of mourning, we ask that you respect our privacy, and more importantly, the privacy of our money. It wishes to stay out of the public eye, so please don’t go trying to find it. Rest assured, you won’t. We have a really good lawyer.

I am a man of faith. I believe that Ham Rove is in a better place now… and so is the money. I hope you have faith as well, because that’s all you’re ever going to know for sure.

Don’t stop bereaving,

Stephen Colbert
Former President
Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (defunct)