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Stephen Colbert Revives Right-Wing Alter Ego to Rip Donald Trump on Free Speech
(www.thedailybeast.com)
this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2025
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I would love for Colbert Report to come back.
Same!
Tangentially, I had a hilarious debate with someone several months ago who was convinced the Colbert Report version of Steven Colbert was just who he actually was, and somehow had a significant amount of difficulty understanding that it was a bit… despite how comically fucking obviously it’s a bit. Low key curious if I accidentally came across the guy who invited Colbert to W’s press correspondents gala all those years ago (and may I just say holy fuck his speech at that event was just… 👨🍳 💋 )
A lot of conservatives actually believed he was as he was in the show.
Conservatives historically have never understood sub context, even if it jumps up and slaps them in the mouth.
I seem to remember some study that seemed to indicate that conservatives tend to have a hard time understanding satire. It was around the same time as The Colbert Report being on the air.
You couple this with seeing that cons tend to have overly large/overly active amygdalas, and when you hear them saying that "liberalism is a mental disorder", I think it's yet another example of them projecting, since they seem to have certain mental disabilities.
We all have shadows that elude us that others see clearly. I seriously believe modern psychology should integrate that work more into standard CBT/RET.
I was a conservative when Colbert Report was on.
Can confirm. I believed he was a conservative.
Honestly curious. Did you ever watch a full episode of the show or multiple episodes of the show?
I watched it pretty regularly. It took longer than it should have for me to realize that it was a satire.
Maybe three seasons in?
Curious what made it seem so genuine at the time?
Iirc (it's been some time), the justifications that Colbert gave for why conservatives actually believe certain things were unironically what conservatives believe.
I began to realize he was making fun of conservatives when the audience would laugh at places that didn't make sense.
Must have been all those "waving American flags" animations. Oh, and that eagle.
Honestly, yes.
Thanks for responding honestly! It's wild to me as it so was so obviously satire and mocking those beliefs from my point of view. Good job at looking at what was happening and changing your way of thought.
Tbf, and I wish this was more obvious to me back then, a lot of rank and file conservatives often need "marching instructions" like "what is the message we (conservatives) need to say about this incident?"
I didn't realize I did this until something really confusing happened. I can't remember what it was but I remember the deafening silence from Fox News and other "lead" conservatives.
I stayed a conservative until around Trump's initial primary bid. When I realized that conservatives would rather vote this guy in over much more experienced politicians, I realized that their criticism of Obama not having enough experience was a bunch of bullshit.
Wild
I was a conservative when Colbert Report was on and I thought it was obvious that it was a bit.
That's because they're usually drunk off their ass or one of the grifters.
Hey! We alcoholics do not support any of this bullshit! Most of the times I’ve been drunk off my ass this year has been because of some shit being done by conservative grifters
Not all alcoholics are right wing shit heads, but all right wing shit heads are alcoholics (and/or stupid and/or a grifter).
It really is a shame we never got that left vs right drink off between Nixon and Hunter S Thompson
There are outliers. Several of my teetotaling MAGA family and also Trump himself (though they do fit your modifiers)
Well, comedy is a sign of intelligence, so....
Bert Kreischer disagrees with you.
He’s so gross to look at.
Higher forms of comedy are meant for higher... Well you get the point.
(unless you're a conservative)
For what it’s worth, Bush knew it was a roast. Roasting the president is a traditional part of the press correspondents’ dinner (or was, before paper-thin-orange-skin became president). Earlier in that very same dinner, Bush did a bit roasting himself with a Bush impersonator.
Every so often, I used to go back and re-watch the entire thing. It was just so good.
I had to laugh when the "liberal media" was later spinning it the next day (and the hard right outlets like Faux and hate radio picked this up and used this spin - "see, even the liberal media says it was bad!") as not that funny, it got hardly any laughs in the room, etc.
Yeah, NO SHIT many people in the room weren't erupting in loud guffaws. He was making fun of YOU motherfuckers, too. Right to your smug little faces.
Just like Orange Jesus didn't erupt into laughter when years later, Seth tore him a new one right to his face, as did Obama. Orange Jesus sat there, seething. Orange Jesus gave it 0 stars, boo, it was terrible, no more discussion. LOL.
Seth Meyers still apologizes for that, sarcastically of course, but it’s hilarious that enough people blame his joke for jumpstarting Trump’s campaign. Trump seething from his table while everyone around him cracks up is burned into my memory.
I'm sure it makes a convenient narrative for people to blame Seth for this.
Again, notice that it's another example of Murc's Law here, by the way: as a conservative, Taco has no agency, he was pushed into running by the nasty liberal cracking jokes and poor Taco just had no choice but to run to get revenge against Obama, against Seth, and against any American that doesn't love everything related to Taco.
In any case, Taco had mulled running multiple times and even tried to run prior, and failed. All that birtherism stuff he was shoveling during Obama's administration was likely his racist way of testing the waters for yet another attempt.
https://www.tvguide.com/news/donald-trump-presidential-campaign-timeline/
I genuinely think Obama roasting Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner changed the course of history
I doubt it. Orange Jesus was already blowing the racist bullhorn with all his birther bullshit and Obama's election broke the brain of so many Angry White Males. They were bound to rally around someone like Orange Jesus when he ran...
He talked about why he left at one point and this was part of it. Because even if he didn't mean what he said there were still people that believed him.
Shhhh, nobody correct him, it’s way funnier that way.
“You mean Trump cancelled a conservative host?”
Him and Stewart should do a "Crossfire" show
it would be amazing if Stewart wore a bow-tie. I would love to watch that.
Oh god yes that's an amazing idea