Free Stephen Colbert: Beyond Truthiness by Bruce Watson Page B

his chair, lips pursed, occasionally chuckling but mostly looking as if he had that proverbial poker up his ass. A White House aide saw the president “ready to blow.” But Bush remained calm, dignified, presidential. When the roast was finished, Bush stood along with the rest of the head table, and shook Colbert’s hand. “Well done,” he said as the comedian passed.
    Sitting down, however, Colbert sensed something wrong. No one in the audience would look at him. Some were embarrassed, others shocked, only a few bemused. “Colbert,” one White House aide said, “crossed the line.”
    When the dinner ended, Colbert had no idea what he had unleashed. Exhausted, he went back to his hotel, slept, and headed home to Montclair. The following Monday morning, he met with his writers to plan another show. Noticing that he seemed blasé about the dinner, one said, “Have you looked at the Internet?” Writers began sending him links to the Web sites that were taking Colbert v. Bush viral. He read a few but found them mixed and asked not to be sent any more. The mainstream press had little on his speech, and what little they had was mixed. “Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian, but rude,” said the Washington Post . Most newspapers ignored the speech, however, leading some in Colbert Nation to denounce a “media blackout” as payback for Colbert’s criticism of reporters. No such blackout existed. Reporters on deadline simply found it easier to characterize the evening by describing Bush’s own performance alongside a Bush impersonator.
    Only when the Internet lit up did the press follow. Reporters watched the footage online. A few sloughed off their lack of coverage, saying Colbert had bombed, but all admired his courage. Beneath the headline, “Stephen Colbert Has Brass Cojones ,” the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report just made himself about 500 times more of a national treasure and cemented himself as one of the most fearless satirists of this generation (instantly outpacing Jon Stewart, who, you get the feeling, wouldn’t have had the nerve to go as far as Colbert did) by way of a savage and hilarious roast/takedown of President Bush who was seated not eight feet away. Have you heard? Did you see? You simply must. It was a revelation.”
    As revelation, as iTunes bestseller, as gatherer of millions of YouTube hits, Colbert’s performance had nailed the president and his endless war. Six months later, New York Times columnist Frank Rich called it a “defining moment” of “the ‘ Colbert’ election, so suffused is it with unreality, or what Mr. Colbert calls ‘truthiness.’”
    Colbert took the White House dinner in stride. On the next Colbert Report , he aired clips of his Hindenburg joke and shots of the audience straight-faced. “The crowd practically carried me out on their shoulders,” he joked, “although I wasn’t actually ready to leave.” But the bump Colbert had given himself sent him soaring beyond truthiness. By 2007, his audience was growing as quickly as his reputation. Here was a comedian who transcended mere comedy, a satirist with the cojones to take on anyone, and a media genius whose innovative use of TV skewered America’s celebrity-sated culture. After one decade on small stages and another in the shadow of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert “got it.”

 

    “Hey America, are you thinking what I’m thinking? You soon will be.”
    Colbert Nation is both larger and smaller than it seems. Larger because the nation Stephen Colbert addresses four nights a week has more viewers than ever. Smaller because Colbert Nation is geographically compact. Colbert can cross it in twenty minutes, and he does so each morning and evening.
    Stephen and Evie still live in upper-middle-class Montclair, New Jersey, where they moved in 2000. Their children attend Montclair public schools. Madeleine is approaching college age, John is starting high school, and