On the night of December 7th, I went to see the Colbert Report. The show was its usual funny self, and Colbert was very funny. While watching the show, I began to realize the affect that comedy had on the media. Everything Colbert said was factual, but the spin he put on his jokes made it seem as if our political system is heading down the wrong track. Most of his jokes centered around the Republican presidential campaign, and it left many in the audience unsure of their support. It was an interesting experience.
What struck me the most about the show was the special guest. The guest was David Hallberg. He is a ballet dancer who was born in South Dakota, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona learning ballet. He has worked for the American Ballet Theater, and is now employed by the Russian Bolshoi Ballet as well.
I thought it was interesting to see the synthesis of comedy and art in a new way. Typically, Colbert’s guests are politicians and people who are typically associated with Hollywood. David Hallberg does not fit into these two categories. At the end of the interview, Hallberg performed a piece from the Nutcracker and he was extremely graceful.
It was great seeing the ballet dancers on Fall for Dance, but we were up in the audience. Hallberg was fifteen feet away from me, and so I could see his every move perfectly. The concentration and effort it takes to dance ballet was not lost on the audience.
Watch the clip for the show here. Colbert Report
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Maggie
I saw this show too, and thought the same thing when Colbert introduced David Hallberg! Like you said, normally his guests are writers, actors politicians, or something of that nature. However, seeing Hallberg dance across the stage was very entertaining, and Colbert even donned a pair of tights himself and dance with Hallberg, though not with as much grace. This integration of arts into politics is very interesting, I wonder if it will become more common. Did Colbert run out of people to have on his show? Why did he choose a ballet dance? It would be interesting, if next season Jon Stewart had a painter or a musician on his show. This also leads back into how technology has affected art. Look back couple of decades, and something like this–exposing a large population to art–was impossible, let alone combining comedy, ballet, and politics. Also, I just wanted to comment on the first part of the blog post as well. Colbert is a liberal making pretend to be a staunch conservative. So he points out the same things that Republican would, but by highlighting their accusations against the government (namely Obama), he also shows how idiotic they are. Of course, not all of the Republican’s ideas are idiotic, and that is not what I am claiming. But it is extremely fascinating, how Colbert can take a stance opposite of his own, and make it funny–even though it is exactly what some people believe. This whole idea–of taking something that is real, and making is funny by showing how pointless it is–is reminiscent of The Bald Soprano. Taking something that is obviously apparent, such as how fruitless the ideal life of an English Gentleman is, and making it funny by doing nothing with it, but showing its true colors, is really a form of art. I am somewhat hesitant to say this, but I think that the Colbert report can be considered art.