Nation,
The Colbert Report is closing up shop this week after a stellar 9-year run that saw its host consistently and brilliantly skewer pompous, ignorant, self-righteous, irrationally fearful, jingoistic, morally certain right-wingers by passing himself off as a pompous, ignorant, self-righteous, irrationally fearful, jingoistic, morally certain right-winger.
In all of his 9 years as host of the Colbert Report, however, never was Stephen Colbert's comedic genius and fearlessness on display more breathtakingly than at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, where then-President George W. Bush was the guest of honor.
Colbert, standing mere feet from the most powerful person on the planet, roasted a not-amused President Bush to a crispy golden-brown with his deft, dry wit in a performance that was so far beyond the comprehension and appreciation of most of the sycophantic members of the White House press corps that for the most part they were rendered speechless, laughter-less and applause-less for some of the most brilliant, accurate barbs ever leveled at a (literally) sitting president.
By comparison, watch (via this C-SPAN link; Colbert's routine starts at 49:50 in) the room roar with laughter at the insipid routine just prior to Colbert's, wherein Gee Dubya himself parlays with a George W. Bush lookalike. It is truly groan-worthy, yet it drew far, FAR more laughs than Colbert's standup routine for the ages. The Beltway press corps couldn't handle the truth: the emperor had no clothes.
Words - other than Colbert's own - cannot possibly do justice to this moment of comedic/political history, so I hope you have a few moments to please just watch it:
Click here for a transcript of Colbert's performance, thanks to Kossack Frederick.
