“I asked them how many watched Stephen Colbert. Every hand went up. Colbert is one of the most important political commentators on the American scene.”
And now you know why Oprah Winfrey gave millions and millions of dollars to schools in AFRICA rather thn wasting her time and money and American kids.
She also asked questions of questions of students before making her decision.

Stephen – by the way – in his real life – is a Sunday School teacher, devout if ironic Catholic and as the youngest of about 11 children, will do anything for attention. You’ve got to read between the lines with Colbert.
My students get him – the irony, the silliness and the part of him that believes in God. My students are very tired of the silly construct of liberal/conservative which serves to keep us apart. They don’t know what to do about it, but know that Colbert’s humor is pointing them away from that construct.
Probably one of his most memorable interviews was with the strange, weird and sadistic – Bill Donahue. Even Colbert was shocked by the level of his rhetoric. I think it was the only time I have seen him break character.
Colbert is smart in a way politicians cannot understand. Never miss him. Rarely miss Stewart.
No matter how liberal you find either of them – they are breathtakingly fresh voices.
And both are genuine citizens who love their country.
Oprah perhaps doesn’t quite get American students because – I don’t think she understands irony either.
She understands product and product placement and achievement – all of which are not bad things. I’m not sure what she does in Africa looks at the big picture. She feels good giving poor little girls all the stuff they never dreamed of. But, Colbert – he see’s the ridiculous nature of such things. We cannot be seduced by the feel good philanthropy of Oprah. This guy is willing to make a total ass of himself in order to wake us from such things. And he does. Nightly. If a student watches Colbert, that student must be well informed in order to get the joke. That means they must read and think before even watching the show. So – students – keep on getting the joke, but start thinking of fresh solutions to old problems. People like Colbert give us the jog we need to think a bit differently. We need comedians – they keep us humble.

Colbert is more perceptive than Brooks. And when he’s making stuff up, he’s quite up front about it.

The interview he did with Fr. Martin from Georgetown about Mother Teresa — again, balancing the silliness and the seriousness under the jokes — was priceless.
It’s on YouTube somewhere …

Colbert, above all, LOVES this country, and has intricate knowledge of it, more than you can say of the average American, and possible the average columnist. It’s a shame that he’s often dismissed as just a “liberal” comedian, when he’s one of the most brilliant satirists of out time. He’s an equal opportunity comedian, and anyone who goes on his show had better go prepared.

And the true irony is – people who watch Colbert and/or The Daily show seem to understand the issue better than those who just watch one or two of the news channels.
Personally, I love “The Word” segment.

“The Word” is the best part of the show…really clever.

His faith was so evident in the interview with him in last week’s Parade magazine.

Saw the interview with Fr. Martin. Hysterical! Colbert depicts the kind of religion that most prefer – certain – as opposed to the faith that is like walking a tightrope.
James Fowler speaks of 6 stages of faith. Stage 3 is where most of us ( and Stephen Colbert) live. These are the rules, this is our belief, whatever happens in life does not need to intersect with my faith. Sort of the hall monitor stage of religion. Stage 4 – question, doubts, working it out and although many people get past it, they are never comfortable with the idea that God calls us to greater understanding only in doubts. Stage 5 people – fairly rare, but they seem to have passed through all the questions and their certainties are about the connection of all with God – everything is one and it is all about God. Only a few seem to arrive at that stage where they are willing to spend themselves totally for God and for humanity, are willing to suffer and die and know it has meaning. Don’t know where Mother Teresa belongs in this spectrum. I suspect she remembered the certainties and beauty of early faith and simply had difficulty dealing with the inevitable doubts of the thoughtful and suffering adult. That would be where we all belong. She was a saint because she kept on. She models what that might look like. She spent herself – on the poor – that’s a life worth emulating.

Now that I finally dug the column out on nytimes.com, that’s got to be the most laughs per word I’ve ever had reading a major newspaper editorial … BY FAR.