Guests tonight include....
"Stephen Colbert a wise choice to succeed David Letterman" by Matthew Gilbert | Globe Staff April 10, 2014
It’s a testament to Stephen Colbert’s great abilities that, when news hit Thursday that he would be succeeding David Letterman as host of CBS’s “Late Show” next year, many were mystified. Colbert is a character, the Twitter chorus cried out, not a talk-show host. He’s a construct, not a real person.
But of course Colbert is very real, not to mention personable and, occasionally, sincere, as anyone who has heard or seen him interviewed knows. He’s just such a killer improvisational actor that he has been able to fool viewers into forgetting all about the actual Stephen Colbert.
He has turned his right-wing blowhard character, host of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” into a compelling national figure, and extended that parody seamlessly into the real world, with runs for public office, the creation of a super PAC, and a news-making turn at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.
Where he committed a faux pas and insulted the war criminal commander-in-chief.
Honestly, he has never been the same since, and the Globe will not bring it up again.
He has made what is essentially a comedy stunt thrive far longer than seemed possible; imagine Jonathan Swift’s mocking essay “A Modest Proposal” stretched into a series of novels.
That’s why there is little doubt Colbert will adapt quickly to his new mainstream gig, about which he said in a statement, “I won’t be doing the new show in character, so we’ll all get to find out how much of him was me.”
The language-loving inventor of “truthiness” is a proven, fast-on-his-feet entertainer and intellect with a lot of range beyond political satire, including a gift for musical theater and an abiding love for pop culture and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Oh, no, he is an LOTR nut.
He has won four variety-show Emmys since “The Colbert Report” premiered in 2005, and he really should have been competing for best actor in a comedy, too. He is an extraordinarily agile interviewer; watch him talk to guests, process what they say, and come back at them in an instant on “The Colbert Report” — all while in character. That’s a complicated juggling act.
Most of all, he is the creator and driving force of the most innovative and original late-night show of recent decades, a Fox News spoof that is as substantive as it is ironic and hysterical.
I'm sorry, I did not find it funny after a while.
Arguably, he is the most multitalented comic, compared with Steve Carell, John Oliver, and Ed Helms, to emerge from the contemporary star factory that is “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
And let’s hope his new talk gig will adapt to him, too. CBS needs to let him forge his own way, play around with the formatting and tone of the “Late Show,” without pressuring him to abide by the stale conventions of the genre. The “Late Show” has always been a more idiosyncratic alternative to “The Tonight Show,” and that tradition ought to continue. The biggest mistake CBS could make would be to push Colbert into becoming a predictable agent of the late-night publicity factory, for fear of losing Hollywood guests looking for soft sells. That promotional touch comes naturally for Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show,” but Colbert needs to preside in his own way.
Presumably, the network is drawn to Colbert’s demographic, as well as to the 49-year-old Colbert himself. The audience for “The Colbert Report” is one of late night’s youngest.
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In order to attract those Comedy Central kids to CBS, Colbert will need to have freedom enough to deploy some of his take-no-prisoners political humor and his playful interviewing style. He’s a gentleman, that is clear from his non-“Report” appearances, but he always has a hammer and a spike at the ready in his pocket. Let him use them.
Shortly after Colbert’s new job was announced on Thursday, some critics complained that the network had overlooked many qualified women for the “Late Night” spot. The rest of the network nighttime lineup is filled by men.
But the harshest ideological shot to the Colbert choice came from Rush Limbaugh. Calling him Colbert with a hard “t,” the radio host started the inevitable backlash from the right.
“CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America,” he said on his radio show. “No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values, conservatives — now it’s just going to be wide out in the open.” CBS will need to stand up against the attacks and potential boycotts, and defend Colbert’s comedic license. Let’s hope the honchos at the network, known for having the most viewers but not the youngest (that would be NBC), understand what they’re getting into.
Related: CBS head’s pay: $66.9m
I wouldn't worry about it if I were them.
Alas, with Colbert’s appointment comes the loss of “The Colbert Report,” which will be a hard change for Comedy Central as well as the fans. The network has had a strong one-two punch with “The Daily Show” and “Colbert,” shows that lend themselves to brand-extending viral clips and books. But it’s time for all of us to let go of the knee-jerk conservative pundit with the archly raised eyebrow.
I already have. In fact, I never really had a hold of him. It just reached a point where none of it was funny anymore. Same with Stewart.
He has made his points, and made them well for a long time. Now it’s time to enjoy the work of the versatile comic with the bright wit and the taste for absurdity, the one who’s always been there, smiling behind the eyes of “Stephen Colbert.”
Time to turn off the TV.
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That's the Globe by the letter.
Better check the email before going to bed:
"Late-hour work e-mailing sends unsettling message" by Beth Teitell | Globe Staff April 17, 2014
Many nights, the e-mails from his boss arrived between 2:30 and 4:30 a.m. — “no-man’s land,” in Michael Bodnar’s words.
“I wouldn’t know if he was starting his work day wicked early, or if he hadn’t gone to sleep yet — or if he never slept,” said Bodnar, a data center manager from Ashland.
“He used it to strategic advantage,” said Bodnar, who has moved on from the vampire boss but remains agitated at the memory. “He would draw you into something in the middle of the night. He’d plant a seed of doubt.”
Even as some American firms boast about policies that encourage workers to unplug — allowing unlimited vacation time, for example, or discouraging after-hours e-mails — many workers like Bodnar say they are afraid to go offline. The employee who sleeps through a 3 a.m. e-mail risks losing out on business.
Sorry I'm never here overnight posting, but I do need sleep. I promise I will be up early tomorrow with many, many posts.
If only they lived in France. Late last week, labor unions and corporate representatives there agreed to limit after-hours e-mails. The agreement, which would give workers an 11-hour e-mail-free window, aims to improve work-life balance, particularly for those who work with clients in distant time zones. Word of the French e-mail limits went viral in the United States, where work is increasingly encroaching on the rest of life, one message at a time.
Doesn't look like the land of the free to me. Looks like the land of the $elf-en$laved.
More than four of 10 cellphone-owning adults (44 percent) have slept near their phones so that they don’t miss a text or an e-mail, according to 2012 data from the Pew Internet Project.
Related: Need more sleep? Make the bedroom smartphone-free
I have.
Statistics on the volume of late-night work-related e-mails are hard to come by, but one thing is clear: Middle-of-the-night e-mailing is a source of stress — on both sides of the “send” button.
So is reading a Globe.
Consider Liz Cohen, executive director of Families First Parenting Programs in Cambridge....
Let's not. It's too late and it's time for bed.
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Related: Time For a Vacation
I may be taking one from them very $hortly -- if I have the time.
