I used to not really like Stephen Colbert – his pseudorightwingery was perhaps too convincing. But as his style has evolved, it’s become more tongue-in-cheek and, well… complicated. He doesn’t stay in character as well as he used to, but that adds tension to the performance, which, in my opinion, improves it.
Colbert is in such fine form, lately. Nothing he touches remains unscathed by his satirical, winking worldview. He’s almost a kind of Cervantes for the internet age. There are performances within performances, representations and lies about representations and lies, misdirections to other misdirections.
I have no idea what he intends with respect to his “explorations” regarding the presidential race – I expect he may not know, himself. Though his individual interactions are likely more scripted than they appear, I think the broader narrative is possibly at the same time less scripted than it appears. It’s a kind of improv – writ large – across the American political landscape.
Below is an excerpt from a recent show. It’s funny (with all the visual references to his recent expropriation of Herman Cain’s identity for electoral purposes), but I also happen to think it’s a genuinely sweet rendition, with James Taylor, of Taylor’s song “Carolina In My Mind.”
[UPDATE: This video is lost to the internet as far as I can figure out. Maybe for paying customers of Comedy Central (whoever owns it now), it’s findable (eg on some streaming service). Yay internet!]
I recommend watching the whole episode – there are some really great moments when Colbert is interviewing retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens, for example.
