Colbert's book #1 on my list
Forget textbooks, the real learning is between the pages of Cobert's book
Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report” (those of us who know him well know you don't pronounce the “t” in Report) has written one of the most entertaining and interesting books I have read in a long time: “I Am America (And So Can You!).”
The book was released in October 2007 and as of December 30, 2007, it has been ranked number one on the New York Times Bestseller List in the Hardcover Nonfiction category for 12 nonconsecutive weeks.
I'm pleased to announce that I very much enjoyed the “truthiness” of this book as it is loosely structured around Colbert's (fictionalized) life story; as he claims to be America, this book is supposedly America's story. The book draws some influence from the literary endeavours of the character's expert models, such as Bill O'Reilly's “The O'Reilly Factor” (2000) and Sean Hannity's “Deliver Us From Evil” (2004), which Colbert says he “forced” himself to read as a reference. Satirizing many conservative rants, the book traces America's troubles to sources such as non-Christians, illegal immigrants, single mothers, gay pride and the liberal media and in Colbert's world, “the forces aligned to destroy America” also include Kashi breakfast cereals, bunnies, robots, the Periodic Table and the “whole-grain agenda.”
A couple of interesting and out of the ordinary things in this book are the red margin notes that appear throughout the book, providing humorous reactions and counterpoints to Colbert's arguments in a style comparable to the Report's Word segment. The cover features a sticker depicting a burning book, declaring “I Am America” to be the winner of “The Stephen T. Colbert Award for the Literary Excellence,” a sheet of 12 similar stickers are provided inside, with which readers are provided to nominate other books for the award, and a second sheet of stickers containing positive expressions such as “Hell Yeah!”, “Nailed It!” and “It's Morning In Colbert-ica” is included for readers to remind themselves “when you agreed with me most.”
At first I thought that many jokes in this book would be far funnier if Colbert were delivering them on the show, but once I started reading Colbert thankfully proved me wrong.
Delightfully trumping this genre with irony, the book's description explains, “You may not agree with everything that Stephen says, but at the very least, you'll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.”
“I Am America” also nails the self-absorption common to many ‘specialists,' such as O'Reilly, with photos and drawings of Colbert on more book surfaces than you can count, a foil seal for “The Stephen T. Colbert Award,” a back-cover blurb from Colbert, and a circular-reference tagline of “from the author of I Am America (And So Can You!).”
Most Colbert fans will probably like, if not love, the book. Some may be disappointed if comparing it to the Report, but the book is not the show, nor is it intended to be. It's exploring the parody in a different way. Don't be hesitant to pick up a copy, I sure did! (And so can you!)
Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report” (those of us who know him well know you don't pronounce the “t” in Report) has written one of the most entertaining and interesting books I have read in a long time: “I Am America (And So Can You!).”
The book was released in October 2007 and as of December 30, 2007, it has been ranked number one on the New York Times Bestseller List in the Hardcover Nonfiction category for 12 nonconsecutive weeks.
I'm pleased to announce that I very much enjoyed the “truthiness” of this book as it is loosely structured around Colbert's (fictionalized) life story; as he claims to be America, this book is supposedly America's story. The book draws some influence from the literary endeavours of the character's expert models, such as Bill O'Reilly's “The O'Reilly Factor” (2000) and Sean Hannity's “Deliver Us From Evil” (2004), which Colbert says he “forced” himself to read as a reference. Satirizing many conservative rants, the book traces America's troubles to sources such as non-Christians, illegal immigrants, single mothers, gay pride and the liberal media and in Colbert's world, “the forces aligned to destroy America” also include Kashi breakfast cereals, bunnies, robots, the Periodic Table and the “whole-grain agenda.”
A couple of interesting and out of the ordinary things in this book are the red margin notes that appear throughout the book, providing humorous reactions and counterpoints to Colbert's arguments in a style comparable to the Report's Word segment. The cover features a sticker depicting a burning book, declaring “I Am America” to be the winner of “The Stephen T. Colbert Award for the Literary Excellence,” a sheet of 12 similar stickers are provided inside, with which readers are provided to nominate other books for the award, and a second sheet of stickers containing positive expressions such as “Hell Yeah!”, “Nailed It!” and “It's Morning In Colbert-ica” is included for readers to remind themselves “when you agreed with me most.”
At first I thought that many jokes in this book would be far funnier if Colbert were delivering them on the show, but once I started reading Colbert thankfully proved me wrong.
Delightfully trumping this genre with irony, the book's description explains, “You may not agree with everything that Stephen says, but at the very least, you'll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.”
“I Am America” also nails the self-absorption common to many ‘specialists,' such as O'Reilly, with photos and drawings of Colbert on more book surfaces than you can count, a foil seal for “The Stephen T. Colbert Award,” a back-cover blurb from Colbert, and a circular-reference tagline of “from the author of I Am America (And So Can You!).”
Most Colbert fans will probably like, if not love, the book. Some may be disappointed if comparing it to the Report, but the book is not the show, nor is it intended to be. It's exploring the parody in a different way. Don't be hesitant to pick up a copy, I sure did! (And so can you!)
