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It's really sort of bizarre phenomenon. The show was designed as a parody of Bill O'Reilly and the like, and has ultimately created a very real rabid fanbase that is every bit as obedient as Bill's, maybe more so.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...ef=mpstoryview
I realize he's just a TV talk show host, and a comedian at that, but it's simply incredible what Colbert has managed to do with his show. His watchers are absolutely, fiercely loyal to him, and it's amazing to see this happen repeatedly.What do you do when you're NASA and comedian Stephen Colbert wins your contest to name the new wing for the International Space Station? You name an orbital exercise machine after him.
The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT, is expected to keep astronauts in shape.
With the help of a legion of fans, Colbert got the most votes in the space agency's online poll soliciting names for Node 3, which will be called Tranquility after the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
Astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams revealed NASA's decision on "The Colbert Report," which aired on Comedy Central on Tuesday.
"Your name will be in space, in a very important place," Williams said as Colbert reacted in mock disgust to her announcement of the node's new name.
"I think a treadmill is better than a node ... because the node is just a box for the treadmill," Colbert deadpanned. "Nobody says, 'Hey, my mom bought me a Nike box.' They want the shoes that are inside."
Colbert's campaign generated welcome attention for the oft-forgotten International Space Station, but it also presented a dilemma for NASA.
The contest rules spelled out that NASA reserves the right to "ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency. ... Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names."
The runner-up name to Colbert was Serenity, which was more in line with the names of the other nodes. Harmony, the name given Node 2, was chosen by a poll of kindergartners in 2007.
The publicity caused by Colbert's interest in Node 3 turned out well for the space agency.
"This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations, who has appeared on Colbert's show.
NASA changed its plan to announce the new name at the end of April at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when Colbert's producers invited them to do it on their show, the space agency said.
Pennsylvania Congressman Chaka Fattah, who stepped in the naming fray in March, when he said Colbert had won the naming contest fair and square, called the decision a good compromise.
It's "one small step for NASA and a giant step for the Colbert nation," the congressman said, playing off Neil Armstrong's line when he first set foot on the moon in 1969.
Colbert's loyal fans have, in the past, bombarded polls to have things named after him.
In 2006, Colbert out-polled every other name in a bridge-naming contest in Hungary. The country's government later said it cannot name the bridge after the comedian because he does not speak Hungarian and is not dead.
Colbert also tried to get himself on Democratic and Republican primary ballots in his home state of South Carolina in 2007. The Democratic Party's executive council voted against his inclusion, and he did not qualify for the Republican primary because he missed the deadline.
However, ice cream maker Ben and Jerry named a new flavor in honor of him, calling it Colbert's AmeriCone Dream. Virgin America also named one of its planes Air Colbert.
It's really sort of bizarre phenomenon. The show was designed as a parody of Bill O'Reilly and the like, and has ultimately created a very real rabid fanbase that is every bit as obedient as Bill's, maybe more so.
To be fair, Colbert's show is much more nuanced and intelligently written than O'Reilly.
Outrage = easy and simple
To be fair, Colbert's show is much more nuanced and intelligently written than O'Reilly.
good satire = not so much easy and simple
Good satire > outrage
Colbert is ing god.
DYK he was one of the first writer strike busters, and he went on the air with basically his persona and improv skills at his disposal. Those episodes were gold. Colbert is god. His book ing rules too.
All hail the Colbert nation.
I didn't see those! Do you remember the dates? They might be available on comedy central.
It was noted in that piece that the name "Fartmonkey" received 7 votes for the node name.
Talking about being cooped up in a small confined space with 7 other people on the space station for months:
"In space, no one can hear you stink."
It was in the final 2 weeks of the strike. HE was one of the first strike busters, then a few other shows started doing it, then even more. You might even say he helped end that bull strike.
Those were good episodes... but the fight between him, Stewart, and O'Brien as classic.
His book was pretty funny. He's very creative....or at least his writers are.
A little liberal for my tastes, but Colbert is twice as funny as that asshat Stewart.
He had help from Paul Dinello, who played Mr Jellyneck, Colbert's secret gay lover from Strangers With Candy.
Dinello, Amy Sedaris, and Colbert also co-authored a book "Wigfield" which is written in a very similar manner as "I am America And So Can You!"
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