the whole colbert thing

[rone]

Amidst the fawning of the moonbats and the shrill criticism of the wingnuts over Colbert's performance, the point is lost that satire isn't necessarily funny.  I thought Colbert's speech was really well delivered and hit all the spots it wanted.  Chutzpah, yes.  Courage, no.  Biting satire, yes.  Funny, rarely.  To claim that Colbert "was hilarious" or "bombed" is to misunderstand what he was doing; it wasn't stand-up, it was put-down.

And while one person thinks that "it's a failing prospect to attempt to direct satire at those who are beyond it," i say that perhaps he's confused about who the satire is directed at.  While Bush and the media were the subjects of the satire, that doesn't mean that they're the targets.  The target is, as always, the American people.  (Yes, i know, "But they're beyond satire!"  I disagree.)

Comments

[paracelsvs.livejournal.com]

Sitting over here, what I see is:

1. Person gets invited to hold satirical performance in front of the president.
2. Person holds satirical performance in front of the president.
3. The internet goes, "Whoa! That guy totally held a satirical performance in front of the president!"

And then I go "?".

[paracelsvs.livejournal.com]

(That first post was mostly facetious. This one is measurably less so. In case you were keeping track.)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

1) is incorrect, as far as i can see. I'm pretty sure people were expecting comedy (more of a roast, as in years past), not a punch in the face.

[paracelsvs.livejournal.com]

I got the idea that satire was what the guy usually does. Of course, I have no idea who these people are in the first place.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, these people have shown a remarkable imperviousness to reality, so they probably figured Colbert would do what they wanted him to do.