from nymag.com
As promised last week, here's the link to New York mag's terrific cover story on Stephen Colbert, "Stephen Colbert Has America by the Ballots" by Adam Sternbergh. Though it might not be news to the Colbert Nation, t's a great primer on All Things Stephen like the origins of "truthiness" (day-of-first-show inspiration), how the idea for the Colbert Report came about (basically, it was staff retention policy) and the fact that on his desk is a book called A Tolkien Bestiary.* There's also the Ann Coulter stuff we mentioned last week, plus interesting backstory about how Colbert and his staff felt about the White House Correspondents Dinner speech (plus ETP's favorite excerpt: "I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a powerful message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound--with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world." Devastating, and true).
Special bonus includes Colbert's advice for both parties on how to win the election (The Economy: Dems - "Ask, 'Are you better off now than you were six years ago?'" Republicans - "Ask, 'Are you more blown up by a terrorist now than you were six years ago?'"; The Plan for Iraq: Dems - "Not 'cut-and-run' ... 'sever-and-stroll.'" Republicans: "What's Iraq?"). Also, a note: It's the most-emailed article on the New York website right now (and, even though it's only Tuesday, for the past seven days, which tells you something about how furiously it's being sent around). Our excerpt on ETP stayed high on the HuffPo charts this weekend and got lots of bloggy pickup to boot. Colbert — and Stewart, natch — are not just comedians. They're tapping into something big here. We know it; when will the Democrats figure it out?
*Another factoid in the article of which ETP was unaware: Colbert is deaf in one ear. We didn't know that and would feel slightly abashed at having poked gentle fun of his ears were it not for the fact that it was done with such love. So we are charging ahead with our "Stephen Colbert Vulcan Ears Challenge," for which we have already received some excellent entries (last-ditch efforts should be sent to us here). Believe it or not, we're already great on Lieutenant Uhuru shots, but certainly other Trek-inspired shots are welcome. Blog synchronicity alert: Sternbergh's last chart-topping cover story was April's "Up With Grups"...named in homage to an episode of — oh, yes — Star Trek. And you thought we couldn't out-geek A Tolkien Bestiary.
