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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Must See TV

Must See TV

by John Cole|  June 8, 20098:34 am| 18 Comments

This post is in: Military, Television

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This:

It was Sunday night in Baghdad, and President Obama was ordering Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the American troops here, to shave Stephen Colbert’s head. (Not to give everything away, but the general is not as brutal with an electric razor as one would expect a bald man to be; Mr. Colbert’s hairdresser, on the other hand, has a merciless streak.)

War, as things go, is a fairly unironic exercise. Sure, there are endless incongruities to be found and parodied in the speeches about war from politicians, generals and heads of state. But war itself — the dirty, dangerous business of soldiers on the ground — seems to be about as earnest a trade as you can find.

Into this comes Mr. Colbert. He is taping four episodes of “The Colbert Report,” the Comedy Central show featuring his egotistical, fake-macho, nationalist blowhard alter ego, in Baghdad this week. It’s the first time in the history of the U.S.O. that a full-length nonnews show has been filmed, edited and broadcast from a combat zone.

Good for him.

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Previous Post: « A quick note on the publius outing
Next Post: Your Ticking Time Bomb Scenario »

Reader Interactions

18Comments

  1. 1.

    4tehlulz

    June 8, 2009 at 8:36 am

    z0mg y duz teh us0 haet AMERICA FUCK YEAH?

  2. 2.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    June 8, 2009 at 8:40 am

    This is going to be one for the history books.

  3. 3.

    burnspbesq

    June 8, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Excuse me while I go set the DVR.

  4. 4.

    SGEW

    June 8, 2009 at 8:46 am

    Sometimes, Colbert seems like the only person on tv who remembers that we still have real live people fighting in real live wars.

    Also, obligatory link to “The Irony of Satire: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report” published in The International Journal of Press/Politics.

  5. 5.

    taodon

    June 8, 2009 at 8:50 am

    Full of win

  6. 6.

    IndieTarheel

    June 8, 2009 at 8:50 am

    This is going to be EPIC.

    And the wingnuts are going to be hitting the fainting couch harder than Boehner hits happy hour and/or the tanning booth.

  7. 7.

    Earl

    June 8, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Like SGEW said…

  8. 8.

    bago

    June 8, 2009 at 8:56 am

    When does Ted Hitler weigh in on the publius controversy?

  9. 9.

    dslak

    June 8, 2009 at 8:57 am

    @IndieTarheel: I wouldn’t bet on it. Wingnuts have a bit of trouble with satire.

  10. 10.

    anonevent

    June 8, 2009 at 9:41 am

    How long before the wingers declare Colbert a RINO for having anything to do with Obama. That would be so full of win I might just die.

  11. 11.

    kid bitzer

    June 8, 2009 at 9:45 am

    colbert is awesomeness itself. i love that guy.

  12. 12.

    Laura W

    June 8, 2009 at 9:49 am

    I like how google’s ad for him is running just above my ad. What a pleasure to stare at his face on this site.

  13. 13.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    June 8, 2009 at 9:57 am

    Bob Hope is out there somewhere in the ether smiling.

    Well done, Stephen Colbert. Well done.

  14. 14.

    Steve

    June 8, 2009 at 11:25 am

    This is because Stephen Colbert comes from the real America, not one of those troop-hating liberal enclaves.

  15. 15.

    Rudi

    June 8, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    Hannity – Where is Sean to show his courage and machismo? Or is it the rainy(waterboarding) season in iraq?

  16. 16.

    brantl

    June 8, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    I think it’s official, Colbert’s balls are made of titanium steel, and are about 12 feet in diameter. Way cool.

  17. 17.

    Uli Kunkel

    June 8, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    Thought the NYT put a little too much editorial in its headline: “In Iraq, Colbert Does His Shtick for the Troops”

    If Colbert is doing a “shtick”, what are O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, et.al. doing? Colbert’s satire is more serious in intent than their unironic pandering.

  18. 18.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 8, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    I love Colbert. I thought he rocked the Press Conference dinner, and I know he is going to rock the troops. In addition, he has a website that allows people to donate to schools that are mostly for kids of our soldiers. You can even choose to which armed forces branch you want to donate. He is the man.

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