Colbert’s Big Adventure

Nobody told me there’d be days like these; most peculiar, Mama. John Lennon



If you are puzzled by the state of current affairs in the New Millennium, you have only to consider one thing; two of the most watched news sources are The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the Colbert Report (Col-ber re-por, as in faux French) with Stephen Colbert.

These shows are considered to be “fake news shows”, but that concept might be misleading. It isn’t so much that they report on “fake news”, but that their take on regular news doesn’t follow the pattern laid down by mainstream media. And if you want to know why so many people watch shows that are so unlike the major news sources, consider this: Sarah Palin and others on the right distrust the “liberal press” so much that they refer to it as the “lame stream media”.

These shows have their own followers and have each staked out “opposing” sides in their world that mirror the conflict in the real world between, say, Fox News and MSNBC. To emphasize this nature of their rivalry, when Stewart announced plans for the Rally to Restore Sanity, a parody of Fox News commentator Glen Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally, Colbert immediately came up with “The March to Keep Fear Alive”, to be held the same day.

Colbert parodies the right-wing commentators such as Bill O’Reilly, or O’Really, depending on who you ask, and does a spot-on impression of these darlings of the conservative set. Stewart, on the other hand, is more willing to take on anything he sees as farcical, no matter who is responsible. He has weighed in on every segment of the media, including MSNBC, Faux, er, Fox and CNN with no more mercy than he shows the nation’s politicians, to include the President and anyone in his administration, or anyone from the “loyal opposition”.

This setup seldom sees any deviation in its script, but from time to time, fake news manages to stray into the real world, and this happened this last week when Stephen Colbert, the poor man’s Rush Limbaugh, was invited to testify before Congress by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), whose subcommittee is holding hearings on a bill that would legalize undocumented field workers. These two met when they took up a challenge by the United Farm Workers to work in the fields that are the places of employment for migrant workers who pick the fruit and vegetables that feed our country.

Perhaps it was his decision to testify in character that led to the sharp criticism from leaders of both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D., Md. and John Conyers, D. Mich., spoke for the Democrats. Hoyer called Colbert an “embarrassment”, while Conyers bluntly asked Colbert to "leave the committee room completely and submit your statement instead."

Neither Republicans nor their counterparts in the conservative media were any more happy about Colbert’s testimony. Everyone took their turn, and much like their real-life nemeses, the Democrats, suggested that Congress was no place for a “comedian”, and that his appearance was shameful.

Rightly said. Colbert bought shame-to comedians, everywhere. At least no comedian ever pretended to be serious when they said really funny things like “I will work for a balanced budget.”