Egomaniacal satirist broadcasts Stewart spinoff

Originally published in The Daily Orange - 10/21/05

Spinoffs are rarely as good as the originals. Just look at "Joey" if you need proof of that. "The Colbert Report" makes no effort to distinguish itself from its predecessor, "The Daily Show." That is why Comedy Central's satire of the political pundits on cable news channels is so easy to swallow. It's not really a spinoff of "The Daily Show," but more like an extension.

Stephen Colbert is a former correspondent (and staff writer) on "The Daily Show," best known for the segment "This Week in God," where he points out hypocrisy in organized religion. As host of "The Colbert Report," he is a reactionary, self-centered, patriotic blow-hard. To highlight his egomaniacal side, he stands in front of a portrait of himself, in which he is standing in front of a portrait of himself. He is a conglomeration of the Bill O'Reilly and Joe Scarborough types that are skewered mercilessly on "The Daily Show" for their combative commentary. As he told the audience during Monday's premiere, "If you're not scared, I'm not doing my job."

The similarities to "The Daily Show" are evident throughout the show, particularly through the slyly named segments. During "Threat Down," Colbert lists the top five threats of the day, ranging from the Avian Flu in Asia to the effect early potty training will have on the diaper industry. "The Word" focuses on a word of the day like "disappointed," which he uses to define his feelings on the Saddam Hussein trial.

There are also the familiar guest interviews with members of the media elite. Colbert's quick-witted, off-the-cuff responses to guests are by far the best part of the show.Of "Dateline NBC's" Stone Phillips' mock turtleneck, he remarked, "It's very Steve McQueen in 'Bullitt.'" When Lesley Stahl of "60 Minutes" told him Sunday's show is experimenting with limited advertisements, he asked, "But where will the people at Centrum Silver run their ads?"

Colbert will also continue to do the taped interview segments he did on "The Daily Show." Somehow, producers still manage to find people who don't realize the interview will be used to mock them. When Colbert interviewed the congressman from the 1st District in Georgia, he asked questions like, "Are you a Georgia peach?" and insisted that the state song, "Georgia on my Mind," was sung by Jamie Foxx, not Ray Charles.

Although Jon Stewart is not behind the large, C-shaped anchor desk with Colbert, he is an executive producer. Stewart even provides Colbert with a lead-in each night, when the two briefly exchange fake niceties during the closing moments of "The Daily Show," and viewers are given a preview of what's coming up, just like cable news channels do with their star journalists.

Fans of "The Daily Show" will enjoy seeing longtime correspondent Colbert getting the chance at his own show, even if he is just pretending to be an ultra-conservative Stewart. Soon "The Colbert Report" will need to go it alone, though, or it will become as unimportant as day-old news.