A few thought he was serious. Most understood he was making fun of them. Some thought he was making fun if how liberals and lefties view the right.
When Stephen Colbert had The Colbert Report did the right ever realize he was doing a parody of them?
Submitted 3 weeks ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
Infrapink@thebrainbin.org 3 weeks ago
Patnou@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I was really really shocked when Bill O’riely brought him on. That’s when I thought they really don’t get the joke. I don’t think they ever did until he started The Late Show.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Dubya Bush brought him to the presidential dinner unironically
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I think you’re confused. O’Reilly knew Colbert was mocking him in particular and hated Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. My recollection is thathe occasionally interacted with them by appearing on the Daily Show or hosting either because it was good for ratings, but he never left any confusion that he hated their parody.
DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Most did, some didn’t. That was already a decade ago. The prism that people see the world through has changed dramatically. It was far easier to discern satire from reality back then.
Things that would have seemed completely impossible in the mid 2010s are reality now. It’s the same reason that nowadays I have to check each news story to see if it’s satire or not.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
People are insane now. They weren’t 10 years ago.
I spend the morning listen to a woman talk to another woman about herself to her friend. Every sentence was a tidal wave of how difficult and awful and demanding her life was, how nobody could understand her struggles, but then also how she was the most empathetic understanding and self-aware person in the world. How she is so happy and wishes others could be happier like her, but she’ll never be happy because she can’t have the things everyone else has. She has so many great amazing friends, but she can’t really be who she really is around them or they won’t like her. Oh, and this is all in the context of her YouTube channel she’s trying to monetize.
Our world is so far gone that people’s self-conceptions/identity has become hyperreal on an everyday basis.
And I’m over here like, petting my dog sipping a black coffee thinking how this lady is like every other person I have met the past few years, her little speech is basically every other person on youtube or a podcast these days. And I’d be like “i like my life I am happy” and she’d probably get really angry at how ‘simple’ I am.
Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
So many of them didn’t and it was hilarious. He made it so obvious many times, at least once per episode.
VitoRobles@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Yep! Very rarely, they were too polite to address how insane Stephen’s comment was.
Because most of the time, they agreed with how batshit it was!
False@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I had a right leaning friend who thought it was serious. He was working on his PhD and was extremely smart. It was shocking.
BillyClark@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
People who are smart in one way are usually not smart in every way.
adespoton@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I find that most people have around the same amount of smarts to spread around. Some people hyper focus it in a specific area, others spread it around. There are obviously outliers, but when I find someone who seems to be notably dense about a topic, I usually ask myself “where are they focusing their attention?”
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
I’ve seen students at one of the world’s most prestigious universities stop in the middle of crossing the busy road to tie their shoelaces.
YetAnotherNerd@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
INT vs WIS, for the nerds.
BillyClark@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
There are two reasonable ways of interpreting The Colbert Report. One is that he was joking, and this we know is what he intended, because he made himself clear when he was off the show.
The other is that he was trolling. He was throwing things out there and he was joking, but not really. You now see this style from a lot of right wing people. Trump just did it in his correspondents dinner speech where he said he was going to run again in 2028.
It’s because other people come in with their own biased perspectives and they can make some sort of reasonable interpretation that they get the wrong idea and never correct it.
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Trump just did it in his correspondents dinner speech where he said he was going to run again in 2028.
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/…/29
I’m not sure this is trolling in any way
BillyClark@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
You have to look at how it was presented. Part of a speech that was supposed to be humorous, but we all know he really wants to run again.
Also, that proposed amendment is a troll in my opinion. The guy who proposed it, some representative named Andrew Ogles, knows it has no chance of being ratified. So, why would he propose it? The likely candidates in my mind are to kiss up to Trump and to “trigger the libs” or whatever, at the same time. Proposing something that will never happen just for giggles is a pretty classic troll.
glups@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
In 2010 or so my dad, who now gets his news exclusively from Newsmax, said Colbert was a communist. So, yea
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They thought he was real enough to be the MC at one of Bush II’s White House Correspondents’ dinners
breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
He was invited by the WHCA, not the White House or Republicans. They knew what they were getting.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 3 weeks ago
Back then presidents had thicker skin. The job of the WHCD entertainer was to make fun of the sitting president to show what freedom of speech is all about. The job of the president was to take it and smile. He wasn’t invited because they thought he supports Bush. He was invited because they thought he was funny.
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I’m kind of surprised how many people in this thread don’t seem aware of this. Are these gen-Z folks who weren’t around for the 90s, or did people not know this back then?
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Colbert wasn’t chosen because the president had a thick skin and thought being roasted would be funny. Republicans have never had a sense of humor, especially about themselves, their Imposter Syndrome is too real.
The Bush administration was remarkably stupid, not MAGA stupid, but still stupid. I always figured that whoever had the job of greenlighting the comedian got trolled by someone who thought it would be funny to recommend Colbert, and they took a look, decided he looked Republican enough, and signed off.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Which are not organised by the White House
quick_snail@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
The purpose of those dinners is to roast the President
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As a 17 year old I was too stupid to realize it was a joke. I preferred Jon Stewart bcz Stephen Colberts show was too conservative for me.
Sanguine@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Republicans don’t know how to take a joke directed at them, so unless they were absolutely outraged by something on the show, you can safely assume they did not get it.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
He said in the past that the reason he didn’t renew his contract with comedy central was because he would suggest something outrageous, and the next day all these republicans would be like “YEAH!!! LETS DO THAT!!! THAT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE!!!”
And no…it never did. The absurdity was the joke. The right took the joke, didn’t get the joke, and ran with it as a serious idea that they liked. He said that he no longer wanted to be the guy who inspires stupidity.
Nollij@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
He timed his contract expiration to match Letterman’s. He really wanted to take over the Late Show, a move that paid off.
Carl@anarchist.nexus 3 weeks ago
Literally Poe’s Law in action, but applied to real life where the sarcasm is extremely apparent.
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Do you have source for this?