Better Know a Guest: June 27th – 30th

Hey, Hubsters—

The music has stopped. StePhest ColbChella is over. The musicians have laid down their guitars, the singers are silent, and a satisfied audience sighs happily. Let’s hope that this turns out to be the first of many annual StePhests. As for me, I’m raising a glass to the wonderful Jack White for being one of the very best it-getters ever.

And I’m also raising another glass shortly–a caipirinha–to celebrate my birthday Brazilian-style. We will not discuss ages, and adding another year is no fun…except, as the old saying goes, the alternatives are worse.

Now, a very different week awaits us, focused on politics, religion, and the military.  So onward….

Better Know a Guest: June 20th – June 23rd, 2011

Hi, Hubsters!

Are you ready to move and groove? It’s MUSIC WEEK on The Colbert Report, with four very different bands to enjoy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think this has ever happened before, and it should be fabulous fun. I personally don’t expect to hear Stephen singing along with any of these groups; they don’t exactly seem his vocal style, though believe me I won’t complain if I’m proven wrong. (Maybe Florence?)  [PLEASE NOTE: WHEN I WROTE THIS I DIDN’T NOTICE THE SIDEBAR ABOUT A SPECIAL PERFORMANCE WITH THE BELLES. IT SEEMS I *WILL* BE PROVEN WRONG. AND I’M GLAD!]

It’s been quite a Stephen-worthy past week with the screenings of Company and his wonderful speech at Northwestern. I don’t know about you, but I’m inspired by his beautiful words. And it looked to me as if the students realized how lucky they were and appreciated every moment. Very gratifying to see.

Now, let’s get started!  And a-one, two, three: baton, conductor!

Better Know a Guest, June 13 – June 15th

Hello from the sick bed…

where I’ve been all weekend. Let’s just say this has not been fun, and sitting at my computer has been a trial. For that reason, I may be a little briefer than usual this time. We have a short week with only three new shows upcoming, probably due to Stephen’s Northwestern festivities. It begins with an old-time right-winger I dislike intensely and moves leftward to two very exciting (in my opinion) guests. Let’s get started!

Special ReporT: Werner Herzog

Hi, Everyone—

What did you all think of Werner Herzog last night? I thought that he and Stephen were fascinating together, because Herzog’s romantic sensibility—a cult of feeling and imagination–met Stephen’s playful and very different sense of “gut over facts” in a delightful way. Just think of Herzog talking about “intensification, and Stephen saying “I intensify every night…I’ve made up crazy stuff and I don’t care if they know what’s what.” Or Herzog’s distinction between the correct and the artistic: we do not know anything when we check all the correct entries in the phone directory.” Frankly, Stephen seemed pretty stupefied by Herzog’s line about ”inventing God,” because he clearly was going to query it and then switched gears. (“You think these people were actually creating…” I think he wanted to say “God,” but then changed to art.)

Better Know a Guest – June 6th–9th, 2011

Hi, Hubsters!

Greetings from a gloriously happy Karenatasha. Why so glad, you say? Look at Monday’s guest! The cinephile in me couldn’t be more delighted…

June 1st, 2011: The taping ReporT!

Hello, Hubsters!

The wall outside the studio!

I’m fresh from a taping and ready with a ReporT! It’s going to take the place of an episode guide, as I have quite a bit to say.

Better Know a Guest: May 31st – June 3rd (Inaugural Edition)

Hello… Hubsters? Hubbles? The Hub? My HUmBle friends of the HUmBle host?—

Welcome back, Sailor Stephen—and welcome to our new COLBERT NEWS HUB blog, freshly launched post-Memorial Day . While we can never replace our beloved No Fact Zone, I think we will find our own special path as the blog develops, and most important, that we can continue to supply you with the latest Colbert news and a space for discussing our favorite comedy host.

“Better Know a Guest” is of course very similar to the Fantasy Colbert League, but there will be some differences. No regular “fracts” for one, unless some really unusual tidbit pops up. It will generally be shorter, and I’m going to take official websites, twitter links, trailers, and book links and list them together after a brief bio. Plus, since Stephen’s fans tend to love Jon (as Stephen himself does), there will also be a section at the end of the weekly post called “And Now, Let’s Check In With Our Good Friend, Jon Stewart,” which will list his guests with a link or two. But things are in a state of transformation and flux right now, so if there’s anything  about our guests that I’m not including and that you’d like to see, just let me know! I’m eager to have this section evolve. 

This is a short week, and it opens with a guest whose recent visit was postponed. For him, I’m using the same bio I wrote for the FCL. I think it makes a bittersweet transition from the old to the new.