Category: John Stewart/Stephen Colbert

Chances are that you recognize Stephen Colbert, he rarely needs an introduction. Once a correspondent on the Daily Show with John Stewart, Colbert is host of “The Colbert Report” (silent T’s in both words), a show that has been nominated for 4 emmys and 2 satellite awards. Colbert himself has been on the “Time’s 100 most influential people” list, and has hosted for various awards and ceremonies (including the infamous White House Correspondents’ Association — noted further below).

If John Stewart seemed like a popular feller in my previous post, then Colbert eclipses him by a mile. He is adored by mainstream population for his on screen characters eccentricies, satirical perspectives and extremist right-wing behavior. Colbert arguably has more of a hold among his fans than John Stewart, because whenever Colbert calls for an action, which he often does (and it’s usually something ridiculous, like  nominating him for a president, naming a bridge after him, or attending some rally), his fans get the job done. They nearly had a bridge named after him (deemed illegal because he was still living), nearly put him in the presidential race (overruled by supreme court), and have produced a well documented phenomenon known as the Colbert Bump (a noticeable spike in public interest/earnings due to recommendation or condemnation by Colbert).

The Colbert Report

Colbert Report is a spin-off show from the Daily Show, created just to retain Stephan Colbert (previously, the Daily Show lost correspondent Steve Carrell for his acting gig). The correspondent known as Stephen Colbert got his own half-hour slot after John Stewart to give his own take on current news, events, and politics (often the same news already delivered by the Daily Show). The actual structure of the show was designed to mock the O’Reilly Factor, a popular right-wing program hosted by a lunatic named Bill O’Reilly. In a way, the Colbert Report and Daily Show are based upon the exact same premise: a parody/satire of established news programs, but still delivering quality content. The show appeals to the same targets, and yet they both have an extremely loyal fan base of their own.

Marketing and Success

Colbert Report differentiates itself from the Daily Show by doing the opposite of what John Stewart does. Whereas John Stewart has a pragmatic and realistic view of the world with a knack for cutting through the BS, Colbert Report has an extreme conservative and right-wing take on news, and often obfuscates and piles on more BS to already complex events. Whereas John Stewart will flat out say “George Bush is lying about WMD’s to invade Iraq,” Colbert will say “George Bush isn’t lying enough to the American population, and this is stopping him from conquering the world.” It’s obvious when watching that Colbert is being sarcastic in his delivery. There is a segment on his show called “The Wørd,” where he chooses a specific word (often made up by himself), and then he spews an extremist rant surrounding the word, all meanwhile on-screen text is juxtaposed to his left showing the satirical context of his rant. Maybe George Bush should have realized this, because he had Colbert host his White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, only to have Colbert mock his government with his deliberate right-wing extremist commentary. The event garnered massive attention for Colbert, and was one of the many embarrassments of Bush’s presidency. By being over-the top and politically incorrect,  Colbert has differentiated his show from the Daily Show. This feat is the reason both shows can deliver the same content in completely different ways, and thus attract different fan bases while still appealing to each others.

Advertising for Colbert Report is wrought with egoism, and narcissism. I noted in my previous post that the marketing for John Stewart worked because of its humbleness and truthfulness to reflect his pragmatic and realistic nature; the marketing reflected the personality. The same principle applies to Colbert. His image and advertisements come across as arrogant and over the top, and yet somehow that is the appeal of the show. His is so transparent in his (fake) intentions, that it suits the show and his style of comedy.

next week: Part III – The Rally to Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Alive

This is the first part of a 3 part series analyzing the Stewart/Colbert mania that has gripped North America. The first two parts will briefly summarize the content, success, and marketing strategies of the two respective shows, and the third will look into the recent held rally the pair have held. You may have heard of it:

The above rallies are occurring in Washington, D.C as we speak, and are drawing in crowds in excess of 250,000 people. John Stewart first announced this, or more like announced that he had a pending announcement, almost a month and half ago, and Colbert quickly counter-announced John’s announcement with his own announcement of a far greater pending announcement (if you don’t watch the shows, you may not get this).

Now before I continue further, let me give you a quick introduction into these 2 shows. (Daily Show only for Part I)

The Daily Show

Hosted by John Stewart, the Daily Show has grown to be one of the most popular shows on Comedy Network. It’s a comedy news show that highlights real news and events from around the world (with a focus on political commentary in America) and adds some bizarre humor and perspective to it. In recent years, its really transformed into a loud critic of established news channels/shows (such as Glen Beck, CNN, FOX), and unlike the aforementioned programs, is praised for delivering an unbiased and impartial view of global events with no agenda. The newsworthy content that appears on the Daily Show is rated on par with news delivered through “real” news programs such as CNN and Fox. John Stewart has a pragmatic, realistic, and cut-the-BS approach to news and delivers it in a 25 minute show punctuated with silly jokes and dry wit. On top of this, John Stewart frequently interviews high-profile politicians, authors and even celebrities (most recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama). To the dismay of many (see video below), John Stewart seemingly holds the power to sway popular opinion with his show. He can make a mockery of respected shows and people (see Crossfire, Jim Kramer, or Rick Sanchez), and ruin their careers. The show has a cult like status, although in recent years its become much more mainstream.

Success

It’s true that John Stewart’s success is largely attributed to the merits of his analysis and content. If he never delivered quality news and humor, then he would just be that show that came on after “Puppets that make crank phone calls” on the Comedy Network. His pragmatism and unbiased view of important news from around the world (including news that does not make it onto mainstream news outlets) has been the tale of his success.

However, a key factor in this success has been the marketing of his show. John Stewart’s advertisements are humble, patriotic, and generally reflective of his show. The ads make it clear that its a comedy show commentating on the state of the world. John Stewart doesn’t claim to have an important opinion in his ads, or claim he has any opinion for that matter unlike some programs (Glenn Back?). Even Comedy Network’s advertisements of his show don’t mislead viewers into believing this is a legitimation news show. However, when viewers do watch his program, they are often shocked to find the quality and validity of the news content he provides. In this way, John Stewart undersells and overdelivers. The show itself is not constructed or designed for any particular person or political ideology; his show is neither republican nor democratic, even though both would point their fingers the other way. He slams whoever is “in the wrong,” and if this has been Liberals or Republicans 30 times in a row, he has no qualms with saying it (to be fair, Republicans have been on the receiving end of his stick more often than not ever since Dubya took control, correlation or causation?). In that sense, anyone can watch his show and laugh at the hypocritical and exaggerated political landscape that leads their country.

Another key factor for its success has been the distribution of the show. It comes on 12’o clock in the night, so its certain that not many people get to watch it before they sleep, so how does he draw in such a large crowd? Being the shrewd political commentator he is, John Stewart recognizes that most of his audience is in Generation X and Y, and as such, he should communicate to them in their desired format; the internet. Comedy Network streams the Daily Show for free over the web, and was actually one of the first to do so before all major networks put their most popular shows up on the web. This supplied his show to a far greater proportion of his target market, and the show took off from there. I remember seeing and reading about John Stewart’s program since Day 1 (aka June 2005) in a variety of blogs, news aggregators (Digg, Reddit), and the general web.

I’ll end this post on that, and continue next week with a similar analysis of the Colbert Report. I’ll leave you with what will probably be the most famous interview ever conducted by John Stewart (this link may be removed for violating YouTube’s terms of use, so just in case, head over to Comedy Network’s official video archives to view the full interview).