Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
A Good Joke From the Correspondent's Dinner
Topic Started: May 1 2006, 06:37 AM (301 Views)
QuirtEvans
Member Avatar
I Owe It All To John D'Oh
My apologies, I don't remember the name of the comedian who deserves the credit for this one.

I've always felt that government governs best when it governs least.

By that standard, the new Iraqi government is perfect.
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
Member Avatar
Finally
You can watch the Bushes on You Tube as well as Colbert's skit at the dinner.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Zimmer
Member Avatar
Fulla-Carp
QuirtEvans
May 1 2006, 06:37 AM
My apologies, I don't remember the name of the comedian who deserves the credit for this one.

I've always felt that government governs best when it governs least.

By that standard, the new Iraqi government is perfect.

That was Stephen Colbert's comment.

Perfect!
[size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Zimmer
Member Avatar
Fulla-Carp
Here is an article which reports extensively on Colbert's comments at the Correspondents' Dinner. (Apparently Bush was not pleased)

Is it any wonder why so many of the young adults turn to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central rather than to the traditional sources of news when they want to hear what is really going on?

From the website editorandpublisher.com

Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner -- President Not Amused?

By E&P Staff
Published: April 29, 2006 11:40 PM ET updated Sunday

WASHINGTON A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk-show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.

Earlier, the president had delivered his talk to the 2,700 attendees, including many celebrities and top officials, with the help of a Bush impersonator.

Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk-show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”

Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face — “and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”

Turning to the war, he declared, "I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

He noted former Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the crowd, just three tables away from Karl Rove, and that he had brought " Valerie Plame." Then, worried that he had named her, he corrected himself, as Bush aides might do, "Uh, I mean ... he brought Joseph Wilson's wife." He might have "dodged the bullet," he said, as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wasn't there.

Colbert also made biting cracks about missing WMDs, “photo ops” on aircraft carriers and at hurricane disasters, melting glaciers and Vice President Cheney shooting people in the face. He advised the crowd, "if anybody needs anything at their tables, speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers and somebody from the N.S.A. will be right over with a cocktail. "

Observing that Bush sticks to his principles, he said, "When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday -- no matter what happened Tuesday."

Also lampooning the press, Colbert complained that he was “surrounded by the liberal media who are destroying this country, except for Fox News. Fox believes in presenting both sides of the story — the president’s side and the vice president’s side." In another slap at the news channel, he said: "I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the No Fact Zone. Fox News, I own the copyright on that term."

He also reflected on the alleged good old days for the president, when the media was still swallowing the WMD story.

Addressing the reporters, he said, "Let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction."

He claimed that the Secret Service name for Bush's new press secretary is "Snow Job."

Colbert closed his routine with a video fantasy where he gets to be White House Press Secretary, complete with a special “Gannon” button on his podium. By the end, he had to run from Helen Thomas and her questions about why the U.S. really invaded Iraq and killed all those people.

As Colbert walked from the podium, when it was over, the president and First Lady gave him quick nods, unsmiling. The president shook his hand and tapped his elbow, and left immediately.

Those seated near Bush told E&P's Joe Strupp, who was elsewhere in the room, that Bush had quickly turned from an amused guest to an obviously offended target as Colbert’s comments brought up his low approval ratings and problems in Iraq.

Several veterans of past dinners, who requested anonymity, said the presentation was more directed at attacking the president than in the past. Several said previous hosts, like Jay Leno, equally slammed both the White House and the press corps.

“This was anti-Bush,” said one attendee. “Usually they go back and forth between us and him.” Another noted that Bush quickly turned unhappy. “You could see he stopped smiling about halfway through Colbert,” he reported.

After the gathering, Snow, while nursing a Heineken outside the Chicago Tribune reception, declined to comment on Colbert. “I’m not doing entertainment reviews,” he said. “I thought the president was great, though.”

Strupp, in the crowd during the Colbert routine, had observed that quite a few sitting near him looked a little uncomfortable at times, perhaps feeling the material was a little too biting -- or too much speaking "truthiness" (Colbert's made-up word) to power.

Asked by E&P after it was over if he thought he'd been too harsh, Colbert said, "Not at all." Was he trying to make a point politically or just get laughs? "Just for laughs," he said. He said he did not pull any material for being too strong, just for time reasons. (He later said the president told him "good job" when he walked off.)

Helen Thomas told Strupp her segment with Colbert was "just for fun."

In its report on the affair, USA Today asserted that some in the crowd cracked up over Colbert but others were "bewildered." Wolf Blitzer of CNN said he thought Colbert was funny and "a little on the edge."

Earlier, the president had addressed the crowd with a Bush impersonator alongside, with the faux-Bush speaking precisely and the real Bush deliberately mispronouncing words, such as the inevitable "nuclear." At the close, Bush called the imposter "a fine talent. In fact, he did all my debates with Senator Kerry." The routine went over well with this particular crowd -- better than did Colbert's, in fact, for whatever reason.

Among attendees at the black tie event: Morgan Fairchild, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Justice Antonin Scalia, George Clooney, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of the Doobie Brothers -- in a kilt.
[size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
Member Avatar
Finally
If you watch the videos of the two Bushes, pay attention to the crowd and what their reactions are to the jokes.

Then watch Colbert. They weren't laughing nearly as much.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
dolmansaxlil
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
We watched the part of the Correspondant's Dinner on Sunday night. When the Bushes got up there, I made a comment to Mister Soak that this type of stunt only works when the Presendent is able to laugh at him self. He looked really pissed at first. I'll give him credit, though - he did loosen up once they got into it.

Now I wish we had left it on to see Colbert's bit.
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

My Flickr Photostream


Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
Member Avatar
Finally
dolmansaxlil
May 1 2006, 05:17 PM
Now I wish we had left it on to see Colbert's bit.


Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbUcpdfWbEc...20white%20house

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XajMZA5Yxo...20white%20house

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybQ0FMN45k...20white%20house

The only comment that I have is that the audience seemed uncomfortable with Colbert's comments.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Optimistic
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
OUCH.

Colbert shows no mercy.

"Mayor Nagin, I would like to welcome you to Washington D.C.- the "chocolate city" with a marshmallow center, and a graham-cracker-crust of corruption."
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rick Zimmer
Member Avatar
Fulla-Carp
Optimistic
May 1 2006, 04:01 PM
OUCH.

Colbert shows no mercy.

"Mayor Nagin, I would like to welcome you to Washington D.C.- the "chocolate city" with a marshmallow center, and a graham-cracker-crust of corruption."

Yep, he was merciless to all sorts of people. His comments about McCain virtually pimping himself to the religious right to get the 2008 nomination was far from a softball comment.

And his comment to the Washingotn Press Corp that an intrepid reporter standing up to power is a fiction cannot be seen as a light slap against the press who cover Washington.

Bush may be pissed, but Colbert was amazingly blunt with all sorts of people. Bush and his supporters have got to get over their hyper-sensitivity.

I twas a masterful performance which said things many, many people want said about a whole host of issues and people.
[size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Optimistic
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
They removed the Colbert videos!

C-Span Asks Web Sites to Pull Colbert Clip
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060509/ap_on_...t/colbert_video
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
Member Avatar
Finally
Not quite: CSPAN asked the non-licensed providers to pull the clips. It's still available through CSPAN, just like previous dinners.

"C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit company and holds the copyright on the entire correspondent's dinner.

On May 5, two days after YouTube received C-SPAN's letter, the Colbert video was publicly available through an agreement with Google Video.

Google had been talking with C-SPAN about a partnership before the dinner, according to Jennifer Feikin, director of video and multimedia search partnerships.

C-SPAN said it chose Google as a partner because it agreed to post video of the entire dinner, and to include a link to C-SPAN's Web site."
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Create your own social network with a free forum.
Learn More · Sign-up Now
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply