Woo-hoo! Today Brian Stelter wrists it up in the New York Times, reviewing the Stephen Colbert WristStrong™ controversy and wondering exactly what happened to Charlie Gibson. ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider was no help, really, answering Stelter's query with a joke ("We have an exclusive cast-signing agreement with Jon Stewart." Oh-ho!). Fortunately, ETP received the official word on Charlie from another ABC publicist on Friday evening at 9:04 pm, though by then we were off the clock. We don't get out of bed for more than $10,000 a day, you know.

So! Here it is (Jeff Schneider, take note):

"Colbert's show asked Charlie but because of scheduling issues, he wasn't able to do it. (Charlie was busy working on his Billy Graham special and now he's on vacation.)"

I will refrain from commenting on Gibson here, just as I did in the NYT (cough Jeff Bercovici cough). What I will do: Include the full version of my e-mail to Brian Stelter, because nothing says "Post That Writes Itself" than one that's already been written. It will make clear that I am not one of the "some media observers" cited who "interpreted [Gibson's] recalcitrance as a statement that real news shows are not to be conflated with parodies." That would have required way too much thinking about this. So, without further ado, my full, rambling email to Stelter, pruned and edited to within an inch of its life en route to the presses, because let's face it, I do tend to go on:

Comedians (and, specifically, comedic interviewers like Stephen Colbert) create situations that people have to react to. It's a test: If you play along you're funny and cool, and if you don't your'e stiff and boring. So how people like Brian Williams and Katie Couric and Bill O'Reilly react to him are an indication of what they are really like - their instinctive reactions are measures of their good humor and authenticity and humanity. In the case of news anchors, that's about as far from "Voice of God" as you can get - their interactions with Colbert take place outside of their tightly-scripted and minutely-produced 22 minutes of news.

What's interesting about "WristGate" (if I may) is that it took something that could have been a one-off joke and gave it a bit more weight. They told Colbert they'd wear the bracelet - did they keep their word? If they didn't, why not? Don't they support the troops? The fact that the proceeds benefit the Yellow Ribbon Fund puts an implicit moral onus on these pubic figures to pony up and say, 'Yeah, damn straight I support the troops.' Which is not entirely fair, because wearing a plastic red bracelet on national television isn't the only way to demonstrate support for Americans soldiers. But that kind of goading is part of what Colbert does best.

It's not part of the traditional job description of the network news anchor to either make jokes or take jokes - but because Colbert is bringing this kind of comedy into the world of news, suddenly handling this well speaks to character, which is pretty important when deciding who you want to spend half an hour with every day - or who you instinctively turn to in moments of national crisis.

The good news for these anchors is that they still have plenty of time to wear the bracelet on air - like Matt Lauer did - to even the score and pass Colbert's "test." But in doing so, they are playing catch-up with NBC - which is what is interesting about this whole thing, because that's the part nobody intended.

Are you still reading? Seriously? Wow. Yeah, dude, August is slow.

2 Out of 3 Anchors Join Colbert in Wrist Stunt [NYT]
Charlie Gibson Only Cool In The Ratings [Mixed Media]

Backstory:
"I'm Sorry, Brian Williams!": Truth And Wristiness, Part II [ETP]
WILLIAMS TO COLBERT: I'VE GOT YOUR BRACELET RIGHT HERE! [ETP]
Charlie Gibson Will Break Your $#@&% Wrist [ETP]

Related:
Yellow Ribbon Fund [via Colbert Nation]

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