Early to bed, early to rise, readers. Sorry.
"With indelible character, Stephen Colbert made us think twice" by Don Aucoin, Globe Staff December 13, 2014
After nine years of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,’’ which ends Thursday, the pseudo-commentator known as “Stephen Colbert’’ stands as a groundbreaking creation who could well go down as one of the most unforgettable characters in TV history.
The rise of the real Stephen Colbert — who is retiring his character and heading to CBS to take over David Letterman’s late-night show — after the disastrous midterm elections, President Obama showed up as a guest on Colbert’s show on Monday. The president even took Colbert’s place in the host’s chair for a regular segment titled “The Word,’’ renamed “The Decree’’ on this occasion. “I will say I felt more powerful behind that desk,’’ the leader of the free world later told Colbert.
Obama’s Oval Office predecessor, George W. Bush, had a much less enjoyable encounter with the comedian in a turning-point episode that contributed greatly to the Colbert legend. Performing a stand-up routine at the 2006 White House Correspondents Association Dinner — held at a time when the war in Iraq was going especially badly — Colbert mercilessly skewered Bush while ostensibly praising him, as the tight-lipped president sat just a few feet away. “The greatest thing about this man is he’s steady,’’ Colbert said. “You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday.’’
Clips of Colbert’s nervy performance quickly went viral. Then again, from the beginning, he had seemed to have an instinct for how to broaden his presence beyond the late-night arena. On the premiere episode of “The Colbert Report’’ on Oct. 17, 2005, Colbert added to our cultural vocabulary by championing the word “truthiness,’’ which he essentially defined as believing what your gut tells you to believe and not allowing anything as inconvenient as facts to get in the way....
The same way they edit a newspaper.
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Related: Colbert — or, rather, ‘Colbert’ — spoke his mind
He's only worried about his book, and you might want to skip right through it.
Also see: Late Night With the Boston Globe
It's early morning with me.
