Stephen Colbert: Alpha Dog of the Century

Stephen Colbert: Alpha Dog of the Century
Rough Draft
By: Hannah Hoffman

Comedy Central hits this one out of the park. Airing at 11pm, Monday- Thursday nights, on Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert is a conservative, gun-loving, gay-hating, political pundit that surprisingly appeals to people of all political backgrounds. Perhaps the only act of bipartisanship at the moment, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents can all join together in agreement that The Colbert Report successfully gets them laughing.

Created in 2005, Stephen Colbert was created to mock the already established conservative talk show host, Bill O’Reilly. Although Colbert generally keeps true to his comedic impression of O’Reilly, the show has come to represent the satire of the United States media in general.

The show combines jokes about politics and important real world issues. The Report also focuses on ludicrous stories that no intelligent or educated person would think to take an interest in. By doing this, Colbert is not only creating an atmosphere of humor, but exposing the stupidity of stories that news shows report on real news networks.

His is a “one man band,” working with no correspondents to accentuate his selfishness. The Colbert Repot is also based on the principle of “truthiness” that was even added to Webster’s Dictionary in 2006. It defines the word as “truth that comes from the gut, not books" and "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts of facts known to be true." This gives Colbert the “authority” to say whatever he thinks, and it automatically is the truth.

The Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert have become an obsession with many Americans. Maybe the constant fighting and partisanship in Washington causes the public to lean to political satire? Whatever the reason, the show is and has been the best comedy show on cable television. Going strong for five years, there is not stopping Stephen T. Colbert.