Weekend open thread: Stephen Colbert farewell edition

What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? This is an open thread: all topics welcome. Happy Chanukah to those who are celebrating. It looks like most of Iowa won’t have a white Christmas, but at least that will make travel easier for people going home for the holidays.

This week Stephen Colbert wrapped up production of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Dozens of political and cultural celebrities showed up to help sing “We’ll Meet Again” during the final show on Thursday. Next year Colbert will take over the CBS Late Show from David Letterman.

Although I’ve been a fan since the days Colbert was a correspondent on The Daily Show, I didn’t expect his character to be able to carry an entire program for more than a year or two before the shtick got old. I was wrong: the quality remained amazingly high. In this podcast, Colbert described his process for getting in character and a typical day in the production of The Colbert Report. So much work went into what came off as effortless commentaries on current events.

Colbert filmed more than 1,400 episodes of his late-night show, but his most memorable performance as his conservative alter ego was surely his routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2006. Click here for the video or here for a full transcript.

NPR posted excerpts from six different interviews with Colbert since his show debuted in 2005.

Over the years, Colbert interviewed 81 members of the U.S. House for his “Better Know a District” segments. Click through to watch the final installment, featuring Republican Jack Kingston of Georgia’s first district. It was hilarious.

Tags: Media

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desmoinesdem

  • Grassley contest

    Is there any chance that we can get a younger person like Nathan Blake to run against Grassley?  I find Tom Fiegen’s honesty and bluntness to be refreshing, but it is too negative about the state as a whole to run a viable campaign.

    I wonder if the recruiting efforts aimed at Linda Langston have been working,  I know it is a fool’s errand so Blake wouldn’t want to run, but he would be an interesting test candidate for the future of the Iowa Democratic Party.

    • I don't see any reason

      for a promising young candidate to embark on a statewide suicide mission. Nathan Blake has every reason to look for better opportunities.

      I would be surprised if Linda Langston ran.  

      • Very true

        I agree completely, but if a younger person did make a go of it, they should be rewarded with something down the line.  I am tired of having to defend our bench on the national blogs/news sources.  People that don’t know what they are talking about now contend that the IDP is in really bad long term shape.  

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