Want to Know What's Really Going on? Ask a Comic

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In April, Stephen Colbert, host of the The Colbert Report, was invited to speak at the annual White ????? House Correspondents' Association dinner. Playing the role of an arrogant, ill-informed neoconservative with no patience for liberals or their media (think Bill O'Reilly), he stood in front of President Bush and the Washington press corps and delivered a searing critique of both their cozy relationship and the administration's failed policies.

Extra! Update (June 2006), a newsletter for the media watchdog group FAIR, surveyed press coverage of the event and noted that the mainstream media ignored the story until video of the bravura stunt flooded the Internet. Then, on cue, established columnists, like the Washington Post's Richard Cohen, lambasted Colbert not so much for failing to amuse (although that was a common complaint) as for being 'rude' and a 'bully.' Interesting, Extra! Update observed, since 'millions of nonjournalists saw the Colbert routine not merely as pointed humor, but as a remarkable event where a sharp political satirist punctured the elite bubble that normally insulates the White House from direct criticism.'

A similarly illustrative incident, which passed with barely a notice, took place a few weeks later, when Colbert appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and made the host as uncomfortable as he had the president's apologists.

Letterman, once considered the cutting-edge comic to beat, made a name salting the traditional approach to late-night humor, perfected by Johnny Carson in the '70s? and '80s, with elements of absurdity that can be attributed directly to Bruce's ilk. The difference-which, with few exceptions, has defined the most commercially viable comedians of the past 30 years-is that Letterman's purpose is not to inform or criticize. His ultimate goal is to entertain, mostly with hip observations about our harmless hang-ups and our leaders' equally innocuous personal foibles.

Maybe Letterman was simply off his game with Colbert, or perhaps he sensed that Colbert represented a new era that was sneaking past him. It might also have been that Letterman just wasn't sure whether Colbert would show up as himself or come out in character and trade jibes-dangerous ground, since The Colbert Report thrives on divisive political barbs. Regardless, Letterman didn't ever seem to 'get' Colbert (who played it straight) and failed to find a rhythm.

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