The Colbert Report

Funny to the bone. I adore the show, Steven is so appealing. My husband and I plan our evening around the Report. I cant take the news any more, it's so depressing, frustrating and totally black (the "regular" news creates bias just through how they word things - it's just inherent in language). However, both the Colbert Report and Daily show inform me while satirizing. It's a winning combination. I think Steven Colbert is brilliant. He is one of the writers for the show and all the writers seem super imaginative and right on target. His delivery is usually mesmerizing. I think this show appeals to a wide age range. I'm in my late 50s and I think there may be a younger demographic in general for Colbert. Maybe it's more of an attitude that we have in common. The show is like O'Reilly on luminescently clear hallucinogens. Steven maintains a double approach: faking a right punch, but actually hits with the left. He has appeal to clear-thinking logical folks who also love to laugh. How else can we get through this madness except with comedy?

Jon Stewart and the Daily Show crew are masters at taking bland, idiotic political bickering and turning it into some of the funniest comedy on television. Stephen Colbert has shown a similar talent with respect to political punditry. Commentators like Bill O' Reilly undoubtedly have their hardcore followers, but to most Americans these type of politically-driven TV personalities come off as obnoxious blow-hards. Colbert does an excellent job capturing the pomposity and intellectual dishonesty of what, unfortunately in this age, is referred to as political commentary. For example, he teased an upcoming segment about the Intelligent Design debate by stating: "Coming up, I'll ask a leading expert in evolution why he hates The Lord." Parody such as that is not only hilarious, but is an eerily accurate depiction of what you find on the cable TV news "debate shows." Highly recommended to anyone, especially those who think the political arena in the United States has become a sad, pathetic three-ring circus.

The Colbert Report features The Daily Show's Stephen Colbert behind his own anchor desk on his own show. The entire set was designed to parody the sets of most newsrooms, with the name of the show appearing nearly everywhere, illuminated with bright lights. Colbert's desk was even shaped like a giant C. Anyway, onto the content.

The first show had a hilarious contest between anchor Stone Philips and Colbert, where each sought to display their "gravitas," essentially saying pointless, meaningless b.s. in the serious tone of a reporter. It also featured Colbert parodying Bill O'Reilly's talk of "elite media" on his show. Colbert's dress is even similar to O'Reilly's. I hope the mock-O'Reilly theme continues. Overall, it didn't appear as good as the Daily Show, but then again, it may be too early to tell...

Colbert's commentary is just on point. You can't get anything past him! And his comedic timing is priceless

Last night's first episode of the Colbert Report was a sign of great things to come. Stephen Colbert has already made his name as a correspondent on The Daily Show (sometimes under brilliantly ridiculous monachers), and branching out onto his own show I'm looking forward to more. If there is more to be expected, with more variety, it's definitely welcome, but on sight of the first episode I'm already hyped for it. Basically, Colbert is a combination of the several 'taling-head' talk-show hosts on Cable TV news networks, with huge egos in the guise of traditional journalism. In particular, one can see the lampooning of Bill O'Reilly, which whether or not you're a fan of his you'll find some humor (I'm very much not, but it may not be too deterring for O'Reilly's main base). The set-ups like 'The Word', and a competition with another TV correspondent with strange phrasing, are hysterical, and sometimes more subtle than the Daily Show material.

If you like Colbert's stuff, it's a must-see, and if you're a newcomer to the show (and might not watch the Daily Show much) it's worth a viewing. One thing's for sure, like the Daily Show, it's a breath of fresh air in the realm of the mildly outrageous.