Go back to the earliest news reports and you’ll find bias. The media has always existed to provide a point of view, a perspective. Outlets can call themselves fair and balanced all they want, but the still offer an opinion. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that idea, but at least own up to it. Sadly, no matter how frank their bias may be, it is rarely acknowledged. Thank goodness for The Colbert Report (and its partner show The Daily Show) to keep them honest. Although the show has barely been on the air for two years, it has earned a reputation for taking a scathing slice out of the current news scene – particularly towards the right. Nearly three hours of the show’s greatest and funniest have been collected into the aptly titled The Best of the Colbert Report.
Wikipedia says of The Colbert Report, “It satirizes personality-driven political pundit programs, particularly Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. The show focuses on Stephen Colbert, a fictional anchorman character played by Colbert.” But here’s the thing, I get a lot of news from Colbert. How does that make him fictional? But if Colbert believes in Wikipedia, so do I. Part of the fun of the show is its many layers. It’s sharp satire, but at the same time it’s not. There’s real interviews with real newsmakers and the issues covered are very much relevant in the world today. While all this is going on Colbert is using his push in the world to change it, literally. The guy’s making ridiculous deals and stuffing seemingly meaningless ballots to get his name out there. In the process The Colbert Report is influencing our YouTube sensibilities of sound bits and becoming the news ourselves.
It’s hard to squeeze just three hours worth of “best” bits onto a single disc. While there are moments in the series that don’t reach the same pinnacle others do, each episode has its highlights that are better than most anything on television today. It starts out with a clip from the very first episode in which Colbert coins the term “truthiness”, which went on to become the 2006 Word of the Year as awarded by Merriam-Webster. From there the DVD goes on to such highlights as the Colbert Green Screen Challenge, his battle for rock supremacy with The Decemberists, the Meta-Free-Phor All with actor/rebel Sean Penn and many others.
I don’t know how long The Colbert Report can continue to feel fresh and entertaining, but I’m guessing as long as there’s news to be made, it’ll be there to poke fun at it.
The Colbert Report: The Best of the Colbert Report Gallery
