Stephen Colbert is amazing

Stephen Colbert just delivered a comedy routine in his testimony before a Congressional committee. No matter what you think of him, it's an amazing stunt that he just pulled off.

 

I love Colbert, but congress having him address them just pisses me off.

I'm glad Colbert gets the publicity. He certainly deserves it, but I don't know why congress would ask a comedian to testify "in character" on a topic like this.

 

I don't think anyone asked him to testify in character. They asked him to testify.

I'll tell you what, there's a whole heck of a lot of people paying attention to this today because of Colbert. This would have been a brief in your news section if anything else if not for Colbert.

 

Because a substantive discussion on illegal immigration and its effect on American jobs is taking place, thanks to the "Colbert Bump."

Really, the irony of this is that a comedian appearing in character has created a more serious discussion on a serious issue than presumably serious Congresspeople have been able to manage in, like, forever. I mean, if you want real performance and grandstanding, just watch floor debate on C-SPAN. It's a level of mockery Colbert could only dream of reaching.

 

Video:

 

I really doubt many people who weren't already politically engaged care about Colbert's appearance.

 

This is akin to the World Series. Peripheral baseball fans will watch the World Series. Plenty of people disinterested in politics will have an opinion and maybe even tune in to this.

 

To put it in terms Double J would understand, Colbert is Ned Braden stripping on the ice, with everyone else involved in what they didn't realize was mockery screaming that he's making a mockery of things.

 

OK, he wasn't in character the whole time.

"Maybe we could offer more visas to the immigrants, who let's face it, will probably be doing these jobs anyway. This improved legal status might allow immigrants recourse if they're abused. It just stands to reason to me, that if your co-worker can't be exploited then you're less likely to be exploited yourself and that itself might improve pay and working conditions on these farms and eventually Americans may consider taking these jobs again."

Guaranteed that part won't be in any mainstream press report.

 

They exchange between Rep. Chu and Colbert should completely put to rest any talk of Colbert making a mockery of Congress.

 

Haven't seen it. Wouldn't watch it.
Using marketing tricks to draw attention to something does not make those tricks substantive.

 

It's a publicity stunt. I don't blame Cobert for playing along, but Congress should have more important things to worry about.