Ten Colbert clips you probably haven’t seen
Hardcore Stephen Colbert fans might take one look at this list and scoff. To them I say, “Hey, girls who live on the Colboards, chill out.” This list is meant for the casual fan of The Colbert Report, who loves the show and, at most, knows Colbert’s history through The Daily Show and maybe a little Strangers with Candy.
As someone who has been a fan of Colbert for about eight years, I’m here to educate, here to spread the good Word. It is the duty of a good fan — especially one with too much time on her hands — to change the minds of people that see Colbert just as the TV blowhard who happens to share his name.
Actually, because of this, I got into a small argument with a guard at DC’s National Portrait Gallery when I visited Colbert’s portrait. The guard told me that he didn’t see the appeal of super-annoying Colbert and couldn’t understand why his wife was so obsessed with the man. I tried to explain the awesomeness of his work and career, but didn’t have the time or my Colbert-ism conversion materials to make it work. I think I ended with something very hippie-esque, like, “Hey, man. Just give Colbert a chance. He’s good. He’s real good.” And then the guard made fun of the Batman pin on my jacket and I had to leave.
As some of you know, Stephen used to train in Chicago’s Second City, honing his improv chops for the big time. Another former student recently came across these old tapes in his garage and uploaded them on YouTube. They are a variety of sketches written and performed by Stephen and some other recognizable comedy faces. If you watch closely in this sketch, you can see the beginnings of the trademark Colbert eyebrow.
During his time at Second City, Colbert worked as an understudy for some guy named Steve Carell. In fact, they worked together quite a bit before being co-correspondents on The Daily Show. Not only did they do improv training about the same time, but they worked on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, where – fun fact – Robert Smigel’s Ambiguously Gay Duo premiered, with Colbert and Carell voicing Ace and Gary. This is one of my favorite Colbert/Carell sketches from that time, mainly because they do fake-nausea very, very well. It’s called “Waiters Who Are Nauseated By Food”.
Man, Colbert and Paul Dinello sure like to write… interesting… material for each other. I don’t think I have to say what that implies, as I can just let these clips (and their roles as Strangers with Candy lovers Chuck Noblet and Geoffrey Jellineck) do the talking. These videos come from the pair’s first Comedy Central project, a sketch show called Exit 57, which also co-starred Candy co-creators Amy Sedaris and Mitch Rouse and some other lady that seems to have faded into obscurity. The first video may not seem that Colbert/Dinello slash-tastic, but the second one involves a lot of mouth-to-mouth action. When I have company over to watch a movie and we’re waiting for the rest of the group to show up, I just loop this video on the projector until everyone arrives or someone yells at me. It’s usually the latter.
Actually, the end part of these compilation of Exit 57 promos is, umm, pretty extreme too:
The foursome that would go on to produce Strangers with Candy also collaborated on this short film from 1994. This film is called “The Tree Surgeon”, directed by Dinello’s brother Dan and starring Colbert as… a tree surgeon. Despite the fact that it’s taped with a shaky camera and there’s occasional giggling in the background, the video is pretty funny to watch. Sedaris’ “attractive” make-up alone is well worth it.
Colbert’s work on Comedy Central continued with his contributions to The Daily Show. Back when he was still a correspondent, he made one appearance on ABC’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? There was a lot of touching involved, especially when it came to working with Wayne Brady. The performances were okay, but it’s still interesting to watch Colbert do improv and fake-ski.
And here’s one that’s probably a little more familiar to you folks. It’s one of the first appearances of The Colbert Report. It originally started off as a gag on The Daily Show, with no intention of becoming a full-fledged program. I kind of miss the aggressiveness of some of it (”It’s French, bitch!”), but I’m glad the show has retained its smarminess.
And this commercial is from Colbert’s stint with GM Goodwrench from a few years back, which yielded some promotional cardboard cut-outs of him. I’m sure there’s at least one person out there who sleeps next to it every night. That’s what I like to convince myself, anyway, as it makes me feel better when I know there’s someone weirder than me out there.
Okay, so that’s ten. I hope you all have learned something (apart from “Wow, Annie’s creepy”). To wrap up, here’s a bonus eleventh clip. This is a fan video of Mr. Colbert showing off his best moves through various points in his career. After being on a show that closed episodes with weird numbers, almost winning a dance-off against a Korean pop star, and inexplicably strutting his stuff behind unsuspecting senators, Colbert has certainly done enough to warrant a couple of fan videos completely devoted to his dancing. Plus, this one has Scissor Sisters music. Enjoy.
Visiting the Colbert portrait in DC: an odyssey
Maybe it wasn’t exactly an epic journey, but let’s have some fun info from a day in the life of Annie anyway, shall we? Well, Monday afternoon, I shelled out a couple of bucks and jumped on a train to Washington DC. I already do so every once in a while to visit the museums, but this time I had an actual mission: to be an obnoxious fangirl in front of the Stephen Colbert portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.
From the looks of some photos on the Internet, the line to see the portrait can get pretty intense, but I guess crowds weren’t really flocking in on a Monday afternoon. Anyway, my friends and I were excited to be there but also a little disappointed. I’ve always known that the “painting” was just a digital image on canvas, but, up close, I was really blown away by how it really wasn’t much more than Photoshop filtered. I mean, brushstrokes weren’t even simulated. My friends and I, all of us being annoying artists, quietly whispered complaints back and forth about the detailing, because, come on, the Report couldn’t afford a real painter or even someone to do some tablet work on the computer? Hell, I would have done it for free. Arty nitpicking aside, people around us seemed to enjoy the Gallery’s blurb about the portrait, which I’ve included after the jump…
Stephen Colbert (born 1964)
Born Washington, D.C.
“Stephen Colbert, the mock pundit for the Comedy Central show The Colbert Report recently contacted the National Portrait Gallery hoping to donate this portrait of himself from his show. While this triple portrait is not one that would typically be accessioned into the Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection, NPG agreed to go along with the joke and hang the portrait for a limited time.
In episodes of The Colbert Report that aired on January 10, 14, and 15, 2008, Colbert tries to convince the Smithsonian that he should be considered a national treasure. He attempts to donate his portrait to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, but the museum’s director suggests that perhaps Colbert should speak to the National Portrait Gallery. Finally, after much “discussion,” the director of the National Portrait Gallery finds an appropriate place to hang Colbert’s portrait, in between the bathrooms and above the water fountain.
This portrait will only be here for a limited time, so refresh yourself at the drinking fountain while contemplating this portrait of Colbert while you can.
Digital image on Canvas, 2005
On loan from The Colbert Report”
Here’s my advice: If you want to be close to something that Colbert has touched, then go for it and take a trip to see the portrait. However, if you’re looking to admire the detail up close, I don’t think there’s really much to see and I wouldn’t suggest visiting it unless you’re already pretty near D.C. I would also suggest that you shouldn’t go crazy with the photos because, as I found out from personal experience, the guards will make fun of you.
I would also like to note that, in my photo, I am not wearing a hipster-style keffiyeh, but a normal plaid scarf. However, I have no defense for my Batman pin.
Stephen Colbert in National Portrait Gallery
Since The Colbert Report’s return, Stephen Colbert has been showing some clips of him wandering around Washington DC, trying to get somewhere prestigious to display his giant portrait (in a portrait in a portrait). After getting totally DE-nied by some ruby slipper-lovin’ folks at the National Museum of American History, he put the portrait back on his back and trudged on, never giving up hope. Well, his hard work has paid off.
For the next six weeks, his portrait will be in DC’s National Portrait Gallery. It will be just outside of the Hall of Presidents, right in the hallway of the second floor bathroom. As a hardcore, slightly creepy Colbert fan living less than an hour away from the city, I am super happy to hear about this. I know the “painting” is really just a Photoshop filtered piece printed onto a canvas or something, but I’m still up for standing around anything Colbert has touched. Yeah, I told you it was creepy. Plus, I’m more likely to go to a museum in DC than Sticky Fingers in South Carolina to see the old portrait.
Also, posters of the old version of the fireplace portrait (in a portrait) are available here.