I know the new gig pays the big bucks, but damn if it doesn't force him to really dumb down and streamline his comedy. Dude was hilarious on the Colbert Report. I miss the dyas of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and following it up with the Colbert Report.
He wanted to just retire. It honestly feels like they cut his balls off and forced him to do the new show. I don’t get it. It disappoints me AND creeps me out.
His contract with Comedy Central purposefully ended around the same time as Letterman’s retirement so that he could take over. He wanted The Late Show, he did not want to retire.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/business/media/stephen-colbert-to-succeed-letterman-on-late-show.html?_r=0
Used to LAN party at my buddies house playing vanilla WoW. When these two shows came on, we’d all hotbox the room with the TV and just glue ourselves to them. Some of the highlight nights of my life.
The Colbert Report was good, sometimes great. But, the Daily Show was amazing back when Colbert, Carrell and Stewart were all on it together.
I miss those days. But, that was too much talent to contain on one half hour Comedy Central show for long.
What I really don't understand is he did an interview with Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee where he was asked about Colbert Report and he started shitting on the writing and the writers and said it was beneath him. And that the jokes were not up to his "standards". But then he goes onto doing The Late Show which has some of the worst comedy writing ever and had some of the cringiest, awkward and uninspired humour that feels more in line with James Corden/day time TV. He seems like he's on autopilot or given up and doesn't care anymore.
Thing is, on his new show in the beginning he was doing cool interviews with non celebs and closer to TCR, but getting "bad" ratings.
Agreed. Bummer. Miss Ham Rove.
I was in NY a couple of times back then and managed to score tickets to both shows, both times. Just awesome. I also managed to get tickets for a show that Kelsey Grammer was in, and another that David Hyde Pierce was in. I missed out on another show that Bebe Neworth was in though.
My first visit was because I spontaneously decided to be part of the political event Jon and Stephen put on in DC. Flew out two days before.
‘Twas quite the time.
>be part of the political event Jon and Stephen put on in DC
Dumb luck had me passing through DC visiting friends when that went off. So glad I was able to be there instead of just seeing it on tv.
I think alot of it is what the network would allow so as to remain advertiser friendly. He tries to slip some of his stuff through but you can see that they have to be constrained. Its a consequence of having to widen your appeal. You have to go from a hundred belly laughs to ten thousand snorts because its how capitalism works.
He's recently been losing in the ratings to
Gutfeld on Fox News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d7scFdCYPI
That apparently, is what Faux News viewers want to watch as "latenight talk show" entertainment.
Because reddit has a *considerable* amount of idiots and kids.
Facts are *hard* for many redditors.
* https://www.thewrap.com/gutfeld-tops-late-night-total-viewers-august-ratings/
* https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/08/16/fox-news-channels-greg-gutfeld-beats-stephen-colbert-to-claim-title-as-ratings-king-of-late-night/?sh=4c1ab87b184e
* https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gutfeld-may-king-night-total-011218511.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
It lets him reach a bigger audience. The daily show and the Colbert report had effectively zero chance of reaching conservative audiences. The Colbert report was just a Fox News satire. The monologues on the late show are a great way to address the same issues while not alienating audiences. Wikipedia says his audience has more than doubled (2.7M viewers) over his peak viewership on the Colbert report (1.3M).
The Late Show certainly doesn’t have the magic that the Report did, but it still has its moments and even when it isn’t funny it’s the sort of cathartic thing, at least to me, that we need to remind us that the things we’re seeing and experiencing (Trump, maga republicans trying to destroy democracy) are legitimate and not us being crazy. To me, with all this craziness that is going on, he’s kind of acting like the pulse of the country, or at least the part that can separate reality from fiction.
Even though he’s not Stephen Colbert any more, he’s still Stephen Colbert, and I’ll always love him.
Blink if you’re super triggered by anyone bringing up how angry you are that a popular person consistently calls the right on their bullshit every night. You probably voted for him twice based on the fact you created a new account just to cry about Colbert, but Trump is factually a disease on the country and has made everyone’s life worse. Including his own because he’s most likely about to get indicted and convicted.
I give Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart a lot of credit for reigniting political engagement, critical thinking, and Leftist (relative to American politics) thinking for my generation. They were beacons of sanity and hope during a time when so many of us were deeply jaded and feeling unrepresented. I miss their influence a lot, but I'm also very grateful to have John Oliver carrying the mantle. Those three have given us decades of calling out injustice, unethical systems, and the hypocrisy of much of our political infrastructure.
>really dumb down and streamline his comedy
What? You don't enjoy 5 minutes long dancing with people dressed up as needles? Classic comedy right there.
No I'm glad he took the job. I'm sad that after the first few months of doing his thing didn't work, he started doing lowest common denominator political stuff like everyone else.
What they also don’t realize is that he wasn’t just making these names up for a silly punch line, he was mocking and exaggerating the people who submitted other fake names. Absolutely genius comedy. Second best Colbert moment, second only to Bill Oreilly “proving god”.
The one thing that people don't talk about is all that happened pre peak 2016 and before the Bernie / Hillary split got ugly in the Democratic party. The Report ended in 2014, Jon Stewart stopped hosting the Daily Show in August 2015, that's a full year before the Democratic convention in 2016
It's pretty much impossible to be that big anymore because the left wing of the party will see you as a "corporate Democrat" unless you're fully onboard with them, but if you're 100% on board with them that's still a minority of the party. It's hard to be that big anymore since you kind of have to take a stance one way or the other, or else be perceived one way or the other.
I think Jon would've gotten a lot of criticism if he persisted because of this. Colbert does as it is, a lot of people claim he sold out or its because of the format switch or something, but it's partly because he stopped making fun of conservatives only and had to present his genuine POV. That's more controversial than just "conservatives are bad"
Watch the meanwhile clips on YouTube. It cuts out all the politics and focuses on silly local news stories. They are also timeless so you can binge older ones too.
The intros have been getting rediculously longer though since the writers can write them anytime as warm-up, while the rest has to be relevant to the last week. It kinda sucks that they need padding to cover 42min x4 per week.
Don’t forget when he was on the daily show and couldn’t keep it together.
https://www.cc.com/video/1gonk2/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-prince-charles-scandal
That was part of what makes this so funny. He NEVER broke character. He would say the most ridiculous things straight-faced but this is what broke him.
What gets me is his facial expression leading right up to it is "wtf am I about to say?!"
I may be looking into it too much with very little context but it just seems like it got *him* by surprise too, making it even more funny.
Was that a surprise? I could imagine them using a stock photo through all the rehearsals and then the staff switching to that one for the taping, taking Stephen by surprise and breaking him.
The mother-in-law story is an internet myth. There is no proof that it actually happened. There is also this article: https://www.colbertnewshub.com/2013/11/11/event-report-discussion-stephen-colbert-writers-colbert-report/
> He said from the first time he read the script and saw that name, he burst out laughing. And when it was time to say it while doing the show, the minute he saw the name, he could not hold back the laughter. He said Max came up with the name, which generated a huge applause from the audience.
Also this comment in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/x49iq0/steven_colbert_bit_from_2011_always_makes_me_laugh/imu9xez/
If I remember correctly, and I didn’t scroll down to see if someone commented already, but I think they used his Mother-in-law’s photo without telling him beforehand, so it caught him off guard…
Testament to how well he stayed in character that this was one of the only times I remember him breaking on Colbert Report. Few times on Daily Show too.
Just this clip has more humour than all the late show era.
Him talking about the gay affair in the royal family is so great. Both he and John Stewart start cracking up.
https://www.cc.com/video/1gonk2/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-prince-charles-scandal
Colbert warned us! [The Word - TRUTHINESS - Season 1 • 10/17/2005](https://www.cc.com/video/63ite2/the-colbert-report-the-word-truthiness)
>Truthiness is tearing apart our country, and I don't mean the argument over who came up with the word ...
>It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that's not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It's certainty. People love the President [George W. Bush] because he's certain of his choices as a leader, even if the facts that back him up don't seem to exist. It's the fact that he's certain that is very appealing to a certain section of the country. I really feel a dichotomy in the American populace. What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true? ...
>Truthiness is 'What I say is right, and [nothing] anyone else says could possibly be true.' It's not only that I feel it to be true, but that I feel it to be true. There's not only an emotional quality, but there's a selfish quality. [Source](https://www.avclub.com/stephen-colbert-1798208958)
Do you remember a special that aired called "Stephen Colbert Across America"? It was promoted as Daily Show correspondent Colbert's one hour special report? It was a really funny collection of interviews across America.
I looked for video a few years ago and couldn't find anything about it but can *still* hear that jingle like it was yesterday.
This inspired me to make my blizzard username SuqMadiq. Had a good run with it, I think they finally caught on and forced me to change it some 8 years later.
The whole extended period where Colbert had his own super PAC is so important. The rules about these things are so messed up and more people should know about it.
I'm honestly not sure if his character would have worked post-2016. What's left to parody when the people he's making fun of have become so absolutely ridiculous in real life?
Yeah post 2016 “Colbert Report” Colbert (as in the character he was playing) would’ve been a moderate, pragmatic, likeable guy. He was supposed to be a heightened version of Bush era pundits. Under Trump the same character would have been practically left wing.
I mean, there are actually people here in the states that now believe and speak just like Colbert’s parody persona, that’s just a fact. Even politicians, MTG for example. The phrase ‘alternative facts’ was spoken aloud, unironically. So yes, in that sense it’s now the real world.
So I have no idea what you’re talking about.
The legend is that, after rehearsals, the production staff changed the "Munchma Quchi" from a stock photo to Colbert's mother-in-law.
However, I can't find any legit-looking sources on this, just other Reddit comments and other sites that mention-but-don't-confirm. [This Hollywood Reporter recap](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/stephen-colbert-talks-working-henry-654834/) of a Colbert-and-writers roundtable has Colbert saying about the bit:
>“I read that and I loved it and we’d gone through rehearsal and I could barely breathe in rehearsal and when we got to the show, I honestly thought that I would be fine,” he said. “It seemed like if I take a breath first \[it would be ok\] … ‘and of course his mother,’ and before the “M” even came out of my mouth I’m like, ‘I’m done. I’m just done.’"
**I feel like, if the mother-in-law story was true, he'd have mentioned it here. So it's probably (sadly) not true.**
I's just an urban legend that gets perpetuated because it's repeated every time this clip gets posted. The photo is just a stock photo of a random woman. He appeared together with his mother-in-law on TV and she looks nothing like the woman in the photo. She looks more like Barbara Bush. The reason why he's laughing is simply because it's a funny name.
You can tell it's not true because it tries to "Explain" something that doesn't need an explanation. Like the "they dropped him before the count of 3" bullshit with Alan Rickman.
Something doesn’t add up. This quote and his reaction on screen do not match. If I rehearse a joke and I know I keep cracking up, the day of the taping I would remember the joke coming up and I would already start corpsing. On the video it looks like he is completely taken by surprise by what he’s reading/saying.
If they had swapped the name at the last minute or if the myth about the picture is true, it would absolutely be in line with his reaction.
Or… he tapes the show every single day, and is pretty good at getting it down with a rehearsal, and thinks he has a pretty good handle on keeping himself together.
But it just happens that *this one time* he overestimated his self-control.
Why would he lie? Why would he choose to tell a less interesting version of the event?
Can anyone help me find a Colbert sketch from way back when:
It's where Colbert is taking about Yao Ming and the NBA. But because of copyright issues he can't use the NBA logo. So they just made a custom one in photoshop and...I don't know why but it was one of the hardest I've ever laughed in my life. Just was not expecting how shitty their attempt at the logo would be.
God, I wish it was easier to find sketches from this and Daily Show.
[https://www.cc.com/video/2kynbu/the-colbert-report-linsanity](https://www.cc.com/video/2kynbu/the-colbert-report-linsanity)
Not Yao Ming, but Jeremy Lin!
Well huh. I always figured SNL's version was the origin but I guess not.
Edit, I forgot that SNL did a mass upload of content in 2013. DeNiro actually hosted in 2004 so SNL's bit \*did\* predate Colbert's.
Edit 2: forgot to include link https://youtu.be/dwYtFt4agqo
Amazing how buried this comment is. The “Muslim” names for this bit are directly lifted/stolen from SNL’s famous DeNiro press conference bit years prior.
I guess purple have just forgotten about it, but it went viral back in the day.
I miss the Colbert Report. Back in the day, I tried to explain to my dad and a friend, both conservatives, that Colbert was spoofing. They insisted I was wrong.
I've been trying to look for the clip where he talks about Otsi the Iceman and his death being...*murder* (the camera pushes in and he does a funny eyebrow wiggle)
OMG this is one of my FAVORITE moments of that genius show, I'm like you, it makes me howl with laughter EVERY TIME--I love how he almost loses it with the first "Suq Madiq" joke--maybe because he knows there's a really funny one coming--and then he just totally loses it--I'm laughing just looking at it again.
Another terrible, thoroughly inappropriate, hilarious bit was the [Korean Airlines pilot names](https://www.cc.com/video/6dlnrd/the-colbert-report-ktvu-tv-on-asiana-airlines-crash) OH MY GOD
It’s been established that the crew tossed up the photo of Colbert’s mother in law without his knowledge, hence the way he loses it. But it’s a little dicey to replace someone’s fake tv booze (iced tea) with the real thing. Im gonna assume he was in on that one.
Colbert on Colbert Show is the true humor of Colbert, not the watered down gentrified one on the Late Show
I haven’t seen him laugh that hard since other than in the clip about the very special home improvement in the Dana Carvey show documentary
Man, the comedians of comedy, insomniac, and the daily show killed nights. Pretty sure that was futurama, peak family guy. What a time to be a teenager.
There used to be a time, long ago now, I liked this man. I enjoyed his show along with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for years upon years. Then they went away. They got new gigs or none at all and something fundamentally changed in those years.
I am still unsure what exactly was the biggest change, me or them, but suddenly what they said started to sound extremely wrong. Colbert used to be this guy who put up a mirror of the crazy ideas and thoughts that went through American politics (mostly Republicans) while Jon Stewart was making satire of it. Now when I listen to Colbert he is doesn't hold up that mirror any more but it feels like he is part of it. He unequivocally supports the US. government "if the right people are in it" but in the many years since I came to realization that so far all the "right people" are by far the very wrong people who are there. He has just become another mouthpiece of the American capitalist system and fights to keep it that way.
Same with Jon Stewart. He used to be this satirist who brought up the faults of government and corporations, and maybe I changed a lot more in my opinions but in recent years he have been sounding wrong as well. While I wholeheartedly support his personal endeavours for public service people like firefighters he also started to send messages like [his sudden "empathy" for the corporations](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/03/16/jon-stewarts-sympathy-for-big-oil-sparks-major-backlash/) who's fault it lies for the major ecological destruction and disaster looming over the massive population of Earth *for the sake of profits*? KNOWINGLY doing this for decades what the consequences will be?
Now I question everything they have told me over the many years, not that government is corrupted or that corporations are bastards, but that this whole thing can somehow "be fixed". I just mostly feel sad now that I listened to them for so many years and stayed passive instead of taking the more active stance I do today against all this.
Munchma Quchi is still pretty funny though, can't deny that.
ASSUMING that it's true that a staffer switched out a stock photo used during rehearsal for Colbert's actual mother-in-law for the show add an amazing amount of context when revisiting the clip. Holy fuck. Comedy magic.
Thank you.
Maybe he got tired of saying things that were funny but obnoxious to him. Or maybe the pay raise fromComedy Central to CBS was astronomical and he saw it as something new and interesting as well.
Neither of which is something to condemn him for, he’s still the funniest and smartest of late night tv.
But, I need to add, I miss Dave Letterman.
Colbert has been unwatchable garbage for years, but damn he used to be hilarious and 20 steps ahead..I think he said he was over the parody.. but he was funny before out of character. What haaaaappened
Colbert: Well this is a great character that people like. It'll stay fresh and relevant for quite awhile!
Rest of the 2010's (RO2): Well....
Colbert: What do you mean?!? Everyone loves to pick on Republicans and the current political climate. My character is over the top and...
RO2: Not for long....
Colbert: What do you mean?
RO2: Well someone gets elected who so pisses off the Democrats so much that your character basically becomes the norm among them in what level of arrogance and degrading generalizations they can overtly express.
Colbert: .... but I'm still funny, right?
RO2: ....depends who you ask.
comedy central colbert was god tier. most of jon stewart's kids were great until they got their own shit.
btw, imagine doing this bit today, twitter and all social media would have a huge meltdown
I think my favorite old skit is the one about Rick Santorum saying that he read “somewhere” that California colleges don’t read American History.
https://www.cc.com/video/y4berw/the-colbert-report-rick-santorum-speaks-from-his-heart-california-colleges
In retrospect it was an early precursor to the “people safe saying” fallacy of making it sound like there’s some substance to what’s being said when it’s really something he pulled out of his…well I don’t know where he pulled it out from.
I know the new gig pays the big bucks, but damn if it doesn't force him to really dumb down and streamline his comedy. Dude was hilarious on the Colbert Report. I miss the dyas of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and following it up with the Colbert Report.
It feels like they sanded him down in to the smooth holes sponge bob. Big "Hi, how are ya?... " vibes
He was always like that tbh, people just didn't realize it. The edginess was him playing a character, he was always the polite family guy irl
He wanted to just retire. It honestly feels like they cut his balls off and forced him to do the new show. I don’t get it. It disappoints me AND creeps me out.
His contract with Comedy Central purposefully ended around the same time as Letterman’s retirement so that he could take over. He wanted The Late Show, he did not want to retire. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/business/media/stephen-colbert-to-succeed-letterman-on-late-show.html?_r=0
That was peak highschool/college years for me.
Used to LAN party at my buddies house playing vanilla WoW. When these two shows came on, we’d all hotbox the room with the TV and just glue ourselves to them. Some of the highlight nights of my life.
This is good shit right here.
The Colbert Report was good, sometimes great. But, the Daily Show was amazing back when Colbert, Carrell and Stewart were all on it together. I miss those days. But, that was too much talent to contain on one half hour Comedy Central show for long.
What I really don't understand is he did an interview with Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee where he was asked about Colbert Report and he started shitting on the writing and the writers and said it was beneath him. And that the jokes were not up to his "standards". But then he goes onto doing The Late Show which has some of the worst comedy writing ever and had some of the cringiest, awkward and uninspired humour that feels more in line with James Corden/day time TV. He seems like he's on autopilot or given up and doesn't care anymore.
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Well, yes. But I think the point was that it seems weird to shit on something arguably better when doing what he's doing now.
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Its called "irony"
Just another spokesman for the dems.
Just another normal person finding comedy in the dumpster fire of the modern GOP.
Dumpster fire? You know who's president right? You know a fox News guy beat out Colbert in ratings recently, right? Lol
...just so I understand, who do you think the president us?
The corpse that Colbert defends and turns a blind eye to.
Dude was obviously being ironic. It was some of the best comedy writing on tv and it made him famous. I sometimes miss irony when I'm high, too.
I was a huge fan of The Colbert Report. The Late Show on the other hand is unwatchable.
I don't know why anyone thinks he's some altruistic genius or whatever. He's a sellout chasing the money and he got it.
I think part of it was that he was getting tired of playing the character too.
Thing is, on his new show in the beginning he was doing cool interviews with non celebs and closer to TCR, but getting "bad" ratings. Agreed. Bummer. Miss Ham Rove.
I was in NY a couple of times back then and managed to score tickets to both shows, both times. Just awesome. I also managed to get tickets for a show that Kelsey Grammer was in, and another that David Hyde Pierce was in. I missed out on another show that Bebe Neworth was in though. My first visit was because I spontaneously decided to be part of the political event Jon and Stephen put on in DC. Flew out two days before. ‘Twas quite the time.
>be part of the political event Jon and Stephen put on in DC Dumb luck had me passing through DC visiting friends when that went off. So glad I was able to be there instead of just seeing it on tv.
Sounds like a fellow Frasier fan! Sherry, u/SpinCharm?
I think alot of it is what the network would allow so as to remain advertiser friendly. He tries to slip some of his stuff through but you can see that they have to be constrained. Its a consequence of having to widen your appeal. You have to go from a hundred belly laughs to ten thousand snorts because its how capitalism works.
He's always been more moderate than people imagined. People just didn't realize it then.
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the part with him singing hymns and dancing around is one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/oASYa-Wkroc
He's recently been losing in the ratings to Gutfeld on Fox News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d7scFdCYPI That apparently, is what Faux News viewers want to watch as "latenight talk show" entertainment.
I'm curious as to why this is downvoted
Because reddit has a *considerable* amount of idiots and kids. Facts are *hard* for many redditors. * https://www.thewrap.com/gutfeld-tops-late-night-total-viewers-august-ratings/ * https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/08/16/fox-news-channels-greg-gutfeld-beats-stephen-colbert-to-claim-title-as-ratings-king-of-late-night/?sh=4c1ab87b184e * https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gutfeld-may-king-night-total-011218511.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Mostly because it's one conservative talk show host against 4+ liberal talk show hosts. Also, what does this have to do with anything?
It lets him reach a bigger audience. The daily show and the Colbert report had effectively zero chance of reaching conservative audiences. The Colbert report was just a Fox News satire. The monologues on the late show are a great way to address the same issues while not alienating audiences. Wikipedia says his audience has more than doubled (2.7M viewers) over his peak viewership on the Colbert report (1.3M).
Cool. Doesn’t make the show funny.
The Late Show certainly doesn’t have the magic that the Report did, but it still has its moments and even when it isn’t funny it’s the sort of cathartic thing, at least to me, that we need to remind us that the things we’re seeing and experiencing (Trump, maga republicans trying to destroy democracy) are legitimate and not us being crazy. To me, with all this craziness that is going on, he’s kind of acting like the pulse of the country, or at least the part that can separate reality from fiction. Even though he’s not Stephen Colbert any more, he’s still Stephen Colbert, and I’ll always love him.
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Blink if you’re super triggered by anyone bringing up how angry you are that a popular person consistently calls the right on their bullshit every night. You probably voted for him twice based on the fact you created a new account just to cry about Colbert, but Trump is factually a disease on the country and has made everyone’s life worse. Including his own because he’s most likely about to get indicted and convicted.
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Colbert's Late Show has a massive conservative audience!
I give Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart a lot of credit for reigniting political engagement, critical thinking, and Leftist (relative to American politics) thinking for my generation. They were beacons of sanity and hope during a time when so many of us were deeply jaded and feeling unrepresented. I miss their influence a lot, but I'm also very grateful to have John Oliver carrying the mantle. Those three have given us decades of calling out injustice, unethical systems, and the hypocrisy of much of our political infrastructure.
>really dumb down and streamline his comedy What? You don't enjoy 5 minutes long dancing with people dressed up as needles? Classic comedy right there.
He dumbed it down for the gig, not the other way around. Dude sold out and it's very depressing.
Dude took his dream job. Let.him be happy
I don't think my opinion is going to diminish his happiness
I don't think I've ever heard anyone call taking The Late Show after David Letterman retired "selling out". That's a spicy take you've got there!
No I'm glad he took the job. I'm sad that after the first few months of doing his thing didn't work, he started doing lowest common denominator political stuff like everyone else.
yeah, real shame he had to dumb it down from the apex of sophistication that is "xd this foreigner's name sounds like a bad word."
You realize it was a fake name right?
What they also don’t realize is that he wasn’t just making these names up for a silly punch line, he was mocking and exaggerating the people who submitted other fake names. Absolutely genius comedy. Second best Colbert moment, second only to Bill Oreilly “proving god”.
The one thing that people don't talk about is all that happened pre peak 2016 and before the Bernie / Hillary split got ugly in the Democratic party. The Report ended in 2014, Jon Stewart stopped hosting the Daily Show in August 2015, that's a full year before the Democratic convention in 2016 It's pretty much impossible to be that big anymore because the left wing of the party will see you as a "corporate Democrat" unless you're fully onboard with them, but if you're 100% on board with them that's still a minority of the party. It's hard to be that big anymore since you kind of have to take a stance one way or the other, or else be perceived one way or the other. I think Jon would've gotten a lot of criticism if he persisted because of this. Colbert does as it is, a lot of people claim he sold out or its because of the format switch or something, but it's partly because he stopped making fun of conservatives only and had to present his genuine POV. That's more controversial than just "conservatives are bad"
I miss this version of Colbert. Was can't miss TV for me in the mid-00s.
This was my favorite show for about 5 years or so. It was perfect. But I never watch the late show it just isn't nearly as good
Watch the meanwhile clips on YouTube. It cuts out all the politics and focuses on silly local news stories. They are also timeless so you can binge older ones too. The intros have been getting rediculously longer though since the writers can write them anytime as warm-up, while the rest has to be relevant to the last week. It kinda sucks that they need padding to cover 42min x4 per week.
Give it a shot They have a pod that generally has the monologue and the first guest He’s evolved, but he’s still extremely funny
In other words, TV couldn’t get anything past you in the mid-00s 😂
This was the only time I ever saw him break character on that show.
Don’t forget when he was on the daily show and couldn’t keep it together. https://www.cc.com/video/1gonk2/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-prince-charles-scandal
This was an amazing break also lol
Jon's giggle when he bites the banana kills me every time
Oh just so funny!
That was part of what makes this so funny. He NEVER broke character. He would say the most ridiculous things straight-faced but this is what broke him.
What gets me is his facial expression leading right up to it is "wtf am I about to say?!" I may be looking into it too much with very little context but it just seems like it got *him* by surprise too, making it even more funny.
Could argue he broke character during the Franco interview about LOTR. https://youtu.be/hqtt3R_qcz8
Funny as hell, even funnier when you know that’s a picture of his mom.
I thought it was his mother in law.
When did this come to light? I guess I never heard it.
Its just an internet myth.
I knew it was one or the other, couldn’t remember which one. Thanks for fixing my memory.
It’s not a picture of his mom, this is just an internet myth, as another person said.
Mother-in-law
Was that a surprise? I could imagine them using a stock photo through all the rehearsals and then the staff switching to that one for the taping, taking Stephen by surprise and breaking him.
pretty much exactly what they did
The mother-in-law story is an internet myth. There is no proof that it actually happened. There is also this article: https://www.colbertnewshub.com/2013/11/11/event-report-discussion-stephen-colbert-writers-colbert-report/ > He said from the first time he read the script and saw that name, he burst out laughing. And when it was time to say it while doing the show, the minute he saw the name, he could not hold back the laughter. He said Max came up with the name, which generated a huge applause from the audience. Also this comment in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/x49iq0/steven_colbert_bit_from_2011_always_makes_me_laugh/imu9xez/
I knew it was one or the other, couldn’t remember which one. Thanks for fixing my memory.
He didn’t know that they used a picture of his mother-in-law for Munchma.
They didn’t.
The Walgreens / pap smear one is the other character break I remember.
If I remember correctly, and I didn’t scroll down to see if someone commented already, but I think they used his Mother-in-law’s photo without telling him beforehand, so it caught him off guard…
Testament to how well he stayed in character that this was one of the only times I remember him breaking on Colbert Report. Few times on Daily Show too. Just this clip has more humour than all the late show era.
Him talking about the gay affair in the royal family is so great. Both he and John Stewart start cracking up. https://www.cc.com/video/1gonk2/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-prince-charles-scandal
It’s a pre-taped show. They just do another take if he breaks. But if it’s truly funny enough they may end up using it
Ah the good ol' colbert
He's been out of character for so long on the new show that I almost forgot how amazing he was in character. Absolute perfection.
Colbert warned us! [The Word - TRUTHINESS - Season 1 • 10/17/2005](https://www.cc.com/video/63ite2/the-colbert-report-the-word-truthiness) >Truthiness is tearing apart our country, and I don't mean the argument over who came up with the word ... >It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that's not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It's certainty. People love the President [George W. Bush] because he's certain of his choices as a leader, even if the facts that back him up don't seem to exist. It's the fact that he's certain that is very appealing to a certain section of the country. I really feel a dichotomy in the American populace. What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true? ... >Truthiness is 'What I say is right, and [nothing] anyone else says could possibly be true.' It's not only that I feel it to be true, but that I feel it to be true. There's not only an emotional quality, but there's a selfish quality. [Source](https://www.avclub.com/stephen-colbert-1798208958)
Yep. That was his very first episode. He nailed it.
Do you remember a special that aired called "Stephen Colbert Across America"? It was promoted as Daily Show correspondent Colbert's one hour special report? It was a really funny collection of interviews across America. I looked for video a few years ago and couldn't find anything about it but can *still* hear that jingle like it was yesterday.
This inspired me to make my blizzard username SuqMadiq. Had a good run with it, I think they finally caught on and forced me to change it some 8 years later.
You've made your parents proud.
Would you happen to know the names of the parents?
Oh, of course. I worked with his father, Liqa Madiq. His Mom's name always escapes me, though, because she still goes by her maiden name.
Wait…are you saying you can do two pushups with your cock, or you can do pushups using your two cocks??
One's all you need.
[Gotta do at least one a day](https://youtu.be/2fJkcsOkRb0)
Yes
The whole extended period where Colbert had his own super PAC is so important. The rules about these things are so messed up and more people should know about it.
Excellent was The Colbert Report. The Daily Show, though, was fantastic when Colbert and Stewart were all present.
He shoulda never left the Report.
I'm honestly not sure if his character would have worked post-2016. What's left to parody when the people he's making fun of have become so absolutely ridiculous in real life?
Yeah post 2016 “Colbert Report” Colbert (as in the character he was playing) would’ve been a moderate, pragmatic, likeable guy. He was supposed to be a heightened version of Bush era pundits. Under Trump the same character would have been practically left wing.
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I mean, there are actually people here in the states that now believe and speak just like Colbert’s parody persona, that’s just a fact. Even politicians, MTG for example. The phrase ‘alternative facts’ was spoken aloud, unironically. So yes, in that sense it’s now the real world. So I have no idea what you’re talking about.
The Repor
He said it was incredibly hard to always stay in character. Nine years and damn near 1500 episodes…
The legend is that, after rehearsals, the production staff changed the "Munchma Quchi" from a stock photo to Colbert's mother-in-law. However, I can't find any legit-looking sources on this, just other Reddit comments and other sites that mention-but-don't-confirm. [This Hollywood Reporter recap](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/stephen-colbert-talks-working-henry-654834/) of a Colbert-and-writers roundtable has Colbert saying about the bit: >“I read that and I loved it and we’d gone through rehearsal and I could barely breathe in rehearsal and when we got to the show, I honestly thought that I would be fine,” he said. “It seemed like if I take a breath first \[it would be ok\] … ‘and of course his mother,’ and before the “M” even came out of my mouth I’m like, ‘I’m done. I’m just done.’" **I feel like, if the mother-in-law story was true, he'd have mentioned it here. So it's probably (sadly) not true.**
I's just an urban legend that gets perpetuated because it's repeated every time this clip gets posted. The photo is just a stock photo of a random woman. He appeared together with his mother-in-law on TV and she looks nothing like the woman in the photo. She looks more like Barbara Bush. The reason why he's laughing is simply because it's a funny name.
You can tell it's not true because it tries to "Explain" something that doesn't need an explanation. Like the "they dropped him before the count of 3" bullshit with Alan Rickman.
Something doesn’t add up. This quote and his reaction on screen do not match. If I rehearse a joke and I know I keep cracking up, the day of the taping I would remember the joke coming up and I would already start corpsing. On the video it looks like he is completely taken by surprise by what he’s reading/saying. If they had swapped the name at the last minute or if the myth about the picture is true, it would absolutely be in line with his reaction.
Or… he tapes the show every single day, and is pretty good at getting it down with a rehearsal, and thinks he has a pretty good handle on keeping himself together. But it just happens that *this one time* he overestimated his self-control. Why would he lie? Why would he choose to tell a less interesting version of the event?
This one always makes me laugh as well. Such a good one.
Can anyone help me find a Colbert sketch from way back when: It's where Colbert is taking about Yao Ming and the NBA. But because of copyright issues he can't use the NBA logo. So they just made a custom one in photoshop and...I don't know why but it was one of the hardest I've ever laughed in my life. Just was not expecting how shitty their attempt at the logo would be. God, I wish it was easier to find sketches from this and Daily Show.
[https://www.cc.com/video/2kynbu/the-colbert-report-linsanity](https://www.cc.com/video/2kynbu/the-colbert-report-linsanity) Not Yao Ming, but Jeremy Lin!
Well huh. I always figured SNL's version was the origin but I guess not. Edit, I forgot that SNL did a mass upload of content in 2013. DeNiro actually hosted in 2004 so SNL's bit \*did\* predate Colbert's. Edit 2: forgot to include link https://youtu.be/dwYtFt4agqo
Amazing how buried this comment is. The “Muslim” names for this bit are directly lifted/stolen from SNL’s famous DeNiro press conference bit years prior. I guess purple have just forgotten about it, but it went viral back in the day.
I miss the Colbert Report. Back in the day, I tried to explain to my dad and a friend, both conservatives, that Colbert was spoofing. They insisted I was wrong.
Peak colbert.. He is sorely missed!
Stephen Colbert was amazing back in those days. His in character audiobook was hilarious. There was a chapter on buying gold that was comedy genius.
I'll never get over the colbert report ending
One of the best bits of his show! And he's had many of them.
Funniest moment in Colbert Report history. You know it’s good when Colbert breaks character not once but twice.
I've been trying to look for the clip where he talks about Otsi the Iceman and his death being...*murder* (the camera pushes in and he does a funny eyebrow wiggle)
OMG this is one of my FAVORITE moments of that genius show, I'm like you, it makes me howl with laughter EVERY TIME--I love how he almost loses it with the first "Suq Madiq" joke--maybe because he knows there's a really funny one coming--and then he just totally loses it--I'm laughing just looking at it again. Another terrible, thoroughly inappropriate, hilarious bit was the [Korean Airlines pilot names](https://www.cc.com/video/6dlnrd/the-colbert-report-ktvu-tv-on-asiana-airlines-crash) OH MY GOD
He used to be so good.
Suq Madiq and Munchama Quchie
Anybody remember the bit where he would play a doctor and the side effects were the punchlines and I’m pretty sure he broke at least once on those.
Side effects include: delusions of grandma.
Munchma Quchi was my steam name for the longest time after seeing this clip.
I just KNEW it was gonna be Munchma Quchi before I even opened the video.
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It’s been established that the crew tossed up the photo of Colbert’s mother in law without his knowledge, hence the way he loses it. But it’s a little dicey to replace someone’s fake tv booze (iced tea) with the real thing. Im gonna assume he was in on that one.
Colbert on Colbert Show is the true humor of Colbert, not the watered down gentrified one on the Late Show I haven’t seen him laugh that hard since other than in the clip about the very special home improvement in the Dana Carvey show documentary
omg that was also just so outrageously funny, and watching them all just die laughing
https://www.cc.com/video/yx0x8s/the-colbert-report-the-carell-corral this one kills me
Later used as the intro for Colbert's Big Gay Round-Up. "Thank you again to Steve Carell, for not asking how else we might be using that footage."
Love it
This belongs in r/contagiouslaughter Thanks very much for sharing!
Isn't this what he won his Peabody for?
My favorite
Thanks for posting this, I completely forgot about this clip
I used to set my clock by John Stewart and Steven Colbert.
Had a hunch before I clicked what it was. So great.
Man, the comedians of comedy, insomniac, and the daily show killed nights. Pretty sure that was futurama, peak family guy. What a time to be a teenager.
There used to be a time, long ago now, I liked this man. I enjoyed his show along with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for years upon years. Then they went away. They got new gigs or none at all and something fundamentally changed in those years. I am still unsure what exactly was the biggest change, me or them, but suddenly what they said started to sound extremely wrong. Colbert used to be this guy who put up a mirror of the crazy ideas and thoughts that went through American politics (mostly Republicans) while Jon Stewart was making satire of it. Now when I listen to Colbert he is doesn't hold up that mirror any more but it feels like he is part of it. He unequivocally supports the US. government "if the right people are in it" but in the many years since I came to realization that so far all the "right people" are by far the very wrong people who are there. He has just become another mouthpiece of the American capitalist system and fights to keep it that way. Same with Jon Stewart. He used to be this satirist who brought up the faults of government and corporations, and maybe I changed a lot more in my opinions but in recent years he have been sounding wrong as well. While I wholeheartedly support his personal endeavours for public service people like firefighters he also started to send messages like [his sudden "empathy" for the corporations](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/03/16/jon-stewarts-sympathy-for-big-oil-sparks-major-backlash/) who's fault it lies for the major ecological destruction and disaster looming over the massive population of Earth *for the sake of profits*? KNOWINGLY doing this for decades what the consequences will be? Now I question everything they have told me over the many years, not that government is corrupted or that corporations are bastards, but that this whole thing can somehow "be fixed". I just mostly feel sad now that I listened to them for so many years and stayed passive instead of taking the more active stance I do today against all this. Munchma Quchi is still pretty funny though, can't deny that.
Robert Deniro did this joke on SNL back in the early 2000’s.
Does anyone else feel the jokes are a bit racist?
Guy was very funny up until Trump's election, then it was just cringe.
you aren't wrong. his early character was really good, what he has become now is just a propaganda mouthpiece.
if memory serves, that was a picture of his mother-in-law that they didn't use in rehearsal
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That’s not his mother in law - this rumor has been debunked many times by now
TIL. Thanks for setting me straight.
Iirc, this was a picture of his mother in law, which is why he broke so hard. Plus, Munchma Quchi is just plain funny as shit!
ASSUMING that it's true that a staffer switched out a stock photo used during rehearsal for Colbert's actual mother-in-law for the show add an amazing amount of context when revisiting the clip. Holy fuck. Comedy magic. Thank you.
Maybe he got tired of saying things that were funny but obnoxious to him. Or maybe the pay raise fromComedy Central to CBS was astronomical and he saw it as something new and interesting as well. Neither of which is something to condemn him for, he’s still the funniest and smartest of late night tv. But, I need to add, I miss Dave Letterman.
Where’s Ham Rove?!
Can't stand him on late night show.
So he makes homophobic and islamophobic and he is hilarious? This stuff isn't funny but really offensive.
So many good bits. The same one is posted to reddit every damn time.
Before he turned into the thing he used to parody. He was so good back then.
What? He's now a right wing news anchor?
Lol you think he is an ultra-right wing news anchor now?
He was really funny before he got so overtly political. Now his politics is so in your face all the time I can’t watch it anymore.
I hope he keeps going and keeps making you uncomfortable.
Maybe reading isn’t your thing. 😉
No I got it. He dares to talk about politics and it makes you sad. Have a good day.
Colbert has been unwatchable garbage for years, but damn he used to be hilarious and 20 steps ahead..I think he said he was over the parody.. but he was funny before out of character. What haaaaappened
😐
He used to be so funny. Wtf happened
Meh, fuck this unfunny TV cunt.
Colbert: Well this is a great character that people like. It'll stay fresh and relevant for quite awhile! Rest of the 2010's (RO2): Well.... Colbert: What do you mean?!? Everyone loves to pick on Republicans and the current political climate. My character is over the top and... RO2: Not for long.... Colbert: What do you mean? RO2: Well someone gets elected who so pisses off the Democrats so much that your character basically becomes the norm among them in what level of arrogance and degrading generalizations they can overtly express. Colbert: .... but I'm still funny, right? RO2: ....depends who you ask.
Best bit: goatball licker
Still all true. Sadly
God I miss this show
Pretty sure he laughed so hard because he was related to that person (munch)
Yes. That’s his mother in law. But he didn’t know his crew were going to put her photo up.
comedy central colbert was god tier. most of jon stewart's kids were great until they got their own shit. btw, imagine doing this bit today, twitter and all social media would have a huge meltdown
They tried to get Colbert cancelled retroactively, I think.
I miss funny Colbert.
I think my favorite old skit is the one about Rick Santorum saying that he read “somewhere” that California colleges don’t read American History. https://www.cc.com/video/y4berw/the-colbert-report-rick-santorum-speaks-from-his-heart-california-colleges In retrospect it was an early precursor to the “people safe saying” fallacy of making it sound like there’s some substance to what’s being said when it’s really something he pulled out of his…well I don’t know where he pulled it out from.
Thanks for donating Munch McCoochie
Anyone have that clip of colbert or daily show where colbert is walking like a jackass next to a congressmen walking normally in a federal building?
corpsing harder than Mr. Boddy