Last night before the taping of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert the man takes questions from the audience before he goes into his character, the cartoonish version of a conservative pundit of the same name.
It’s strange seeing Colbert not in character. Like an old friend who suddenly changes his whole personality.
It’ll be interesting to see how people take to Colbert out of character when he takes over for Letterman soon. It’s easy to forget that Colbert the man is a Southerner, a Catholic who teaches Sunday School, and he’s a full out Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings nerd. I hope Colbert will go back to the comedic characters he did on cult shows like Strangers With Candy and Exit 57.
Speaking of weak transitional sentences and new characters, Tim and Eric’s new show Bedtime Stories marks an amazing shift for the kings of absurdist comedy. What makes Tim and Eric interesting is they didn’t climb the traditional comedy ladder. They didn’t do stand up or improv, they just started making surreal, wildly-edited gross-out videos. They sent them to Bob Odenkirk and the rest, as they say, is history. Bedtime Stories has a bigger budget than their beloved Awesome Show Great Job. The show proves the boys are not one-trick ponies. Each episode is a self contained short film that feels like a Lynchian version of the twilight zone if Andy Kaufman made it.
Miley Cyrus has been slowing shifting herself. From Disney channel sweetheart to dirty twerker to now psychedelic muse of the Flaming Lips. She’s moving into the spotlight as a legitimate artist. Following her instagram is like watching your little sister grow up and discover good bands and movies. Sometimes she’s a little annoying but as she gets older she’s turns into someone you’d actually like to hang out with. Bangerz was a few tracks away from being an incredible pop album. Her next album will like be totally bonkers. Can’t wait.
Not content to fuck up William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy and John Steinbeck, James Franco has now possibly caused an act of war. Sony got hacked big time and some are saying it’s North Korea in retaliation to the new James Franco movie, which pokes fun at the Dear Leader. I’m doubtful the hack came from North Korea, but if it really did, I’m sure it’s nothing Dennis Rodman can’t fix.
At least one Korea loves our comedy. There’s a Lorine Michael’s produced SNL in South Korea. The sketches on YouTube don’t seem that funny, mainly because I don’t speak Korean nor do I have time to read subtitles. I’m too busy watching the final episodes of The Colbert Report warm in bed as New York is becoming full on winter to bringing me into the Christmas spirit. South Korea put up a Christmas Tree and North Korea threatened to bombed it.
I blame Franco.
