Both sides of the political spectrum claim Stephen Colbert as their own. A study from Ohio State University finds that liberals think Stephen Colbert is funny, his performance as a conservative is satire, and that he is a liberal at heart. Conservatives also think he is funny, and believe he is a conservative at heart.
Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism.
The Huffington Post puts it more bluntly: Conservatives Don't Know He's Joking. They give the example of Florida Representative Bill Posey, who wondered why Colbert would call him the illegitimate grandson of an alligator. The results of this study would explain why even Colbert's targets appreciate him. What's not to like? He thinks the way I do!
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What a bunch of maroons...
I don't know, the study is a little 'duh'. Of course stupid Democrats are more likely to guess his correct political ideology than stupid Republicans. And it surely misses some points, such as Rahm Emanuel instructing Representatives to not be interviewed, or Colbert's occasional dig against the Democrats.
I wonder if the opposite would be true if they did a study on Hannity or Limbaugh?
teafizz, kind of takes the sting out if you misspell 'moron' while trying to call other people stupid...
i think i'm conservative, but most of the time i don't think colbert is serious. i actually quite like it that he's ambiguously liberal/conservative. he's obviously doing satire, and mostly targets republicans and conservatives. which would suggest he's liberal. but... sometimes you gotta wonder if there's another layer under there, of unknown affiliation. unlike a lot of internet denizens, i honestly do not have to know someone's affiliation beforehand to be able to like his work. in fact, i prefer it when it does not get in the way - otherwise eventually it gets divisive.
personally i like him because he shows the ridiculous side of things. he has a knack of tackling potentially offensive topics without actually offending. the character he plays is supposedly narrow and narcissistic and biased, but it is impossible to do what he does unless he knows a lot of things about a lot of different peoples.
i think liberals like him because they like that he makes fun of conservatives, for whom they have no respect. some conservatives probably think he's making a fool of liberals and really means what he says. but, i rather think that some conservatives like him because he critiques the more ridiculous elements of republicans and conservatives, which should be done by themselves. and sometimes he appears to make fun of liberal reaction to those elements.
To be fair and balanced, I can't tell when Dennis Miller is funny.
I can't recall any occasion when Dennis Miller was funny, even before he did political humor.
Certain people do Miss C.
Certain people do.
LAME.
"The Huffington Post puts it more bluntly: Conservatives Don't Know He's Joking."
me cosirvativ me dont no dat colbert is joking
i so damn stoopid cuz miss c and liberal huffington post tink i stewpid.
I want my minute back Nancy Pelosi Cellania.
I think the Huffington Post misunderestimated the likes of Dave.
no flame wars on Tuesdays boys!
There is an old saying that is used in this part of the country.
Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
Kirana, I believe TeaFizz was quoting Bugs Bunny. Either that or he was dissing my high school roller hockey team The Maroons. (We weren't that good.)
With these test results, the other headline could be:
Liberals Don't Really Know Why Colbert is Funny
The one thing about Colbert that I've never noticed anyone mention is that he's trying to parody guys like Limbaugh and O'Reilly, who are themselves parodists.
I think Colbert is akin to James Joyce when he parodied famed parodist Percy French in Finnegan's Wake.
The only thing that is unclear however, is if Colbert understands the first parody, as Joyce so intimately did. If he does, than he is performing an elaborate arabasque that most of his audience (especially liberals) can't possibly understand, but are nonetheless entertained. If he does not understand it, than he is a jester recycling the original creations of the first, a la Gallagher II.
Colbert is a direct parody of Bill O'Reilly, all the way down to facial expressions. But like any good comedian/faux news anchor, he will ridicule anything that is funny in the news. The fact some conservatives like him is not surprising, nor does it necessarily indicate stupidity. After all, many of us Obama supporters find him funny when he (or John Stewart) ridicule Obama. But I do think there may be some denial involved--for example, when he did his famous parody of the NOM "storm is coming" ad, the head of NOM issued a statement thanking him for giving them national exposure.
The thing about O'Reilly, though, is that most Leftists don't "get" his humor. For example, most of them took his "War On Christmas" gig at face value, even though he made obvious self-parodic jokes about it.
When he said something like "We should be able to publicly celebrate a holiday devoted to peace and love. If you disagree, you should be flogged" he was joking, and pretty obviously so (whether it was funny or not is probably a matter of taste.)
But then, when Colbert ironically "parodies" O'Reilly, he says something like "We should be able to publicly celebrate a holiday devoted to peace and love. If you disagree, you should be flogged," he's suddenly all hip and stuff?
I don't get it. Stewart did the same thing: when conservatives made Potato Day jokes mocking ethnic insensitivity, liberals didn't "get" the joke until Stewart made THE EXACT SAME JOKES, but tried to ascribe the ethnic insensitivty to the conservatives who opposed it in the first place!
Unless someone can point out otherwise, Stewart and Colbert are the Carlos Mencias of political humor.
I'm just waiting for Joe Rogan to point it out.
O'Reilly and Limbaugh would be much funnier if they weren't taken so seriously. Sure, YOU know they are over-the-top and can't be serious, but I see people every day who consider them pundits instead of comedians.
"O'Reilly and Limbaugh would be much funnier if they weren't taken so seriously. Sure, YOU know they are over-the-top and can't be serious, but I see people every day who consider them pundits instead of comedians."
O'Reilly and Limbaugh would be funny if they werent so right. They just point out the facts, which would be funny if they weren't fact. Unfortunately the over-the-top stuff that they say proves to be right which doesn't afford them the luxury of being comedians. Hence, they become pundits.
When Rush Limbaugh sits around the house, he really sits around the house!
Take Sarah Palin - please!
Ha! I'll be here all week.
Colbert and Stewart are those guys we are told are supposed to be funny because they are so hip. But Colbert is kind of a SNL skit taken to the big screen (A Political Night At the Roxbury, if you will) and Stewart peaked with Elmopalooza back in the 20th century.
Apparently, everyone knows Limbaugh and O'Reilly are over the top...except the Obama Administration, who apparently extended his campaign into the first 100 days of his candidacy just so he could run against them.
I'm pretty sure the jokes on tired, too hip to be funny liberalism.
Think about these tautologies:
All hipsters are liberal.
Hipsters are lame and humorless.
All hippies are liberal.
Hippies are lame and humorless.
All hip replacement surgeries are liberal.
Hip replacement surgeries are lame and humorless.
Therefore, all hip liberals are lame and humorless.
Well, to summarize from this litany:
Yes, we think he's serious on some level. Liberals are evil (obviously), but also stupid because Limbaugh and the rest of our pundits are now comedians (and always were) and never mean anything they say (which, I must say, is an interesting new obfuscation now that Limbaugh runs the party). When conservatives act nuts, they're really doing satire, and...we conservatives are therefor substantially into self-parody, since most of our statements are meant to mock what liberals think we mean on any particular subject, not show what we mean.
Makes sense, I'm sure, on some level of rationalization. I guess this is the search for new party identity?