Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

The Colbert Report's week in Baghdad is over now and by any measure was a great success, from the shout-outs from the likes of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Jim Webb, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, and Bush father and son to the interviews with the troops and their leaders. Here's a recap for the week, which hardly touches on the funniest bits. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Recap - Week of 6/8/09 www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq I've already mentioned bits from the first two nights. The funniest from Thursday's show surely had to be Stephen's interview with the commander of the Thunderbirds, and the subsequent film of his joyride. -- Oh my God! Favorite line (as he's strapped into the back of one of the Thunderbirds). Airman : Stephen, if you could just not touch anything back here... Stephen : Does this drop the bombs? While a lot of fun, the show made a number of serious points. S...

Another fab show from Stephen, with a follow up on his "basic training" film from yesterday. More silly and inspired. The drill sergent deserves an Emmy. This was followed on a long riff on "don't ask - don't tell," which was both pointed and funny. The best (though not the funniest bit) was his interview with two of the troops - a woman MP and Arab-American translator.Coupled with the "don't ask/don't tell" references made earlier, the unmissable point was how diverse today's army was. It transcended being a comedy show bit. For even more information, I recommend heading over to the No Fact Zone -- they've got some great content about this trip. I promise a link to tonight's show tomorrow sometime; as soon as it's available.

Just watched the first of the Colbert Reports broadcast from Iraq as part of USO entertainment for the troops stationed over there. Fantastic! I don't want to give anything away, but it was one of the best, with a pointed Word segment that the audience seemed to eat up, a couple of hilarious filmed segments, and some special guest appearances. I'll post a link or embed it when it appears on the ColbertNation.com website. One of the stated reasons for Colbert's doing this is to remind people there are still a bunch of people serving over there; a fact that has slowly been crowded from the front pages by news about the economy. By now you may have heard about Stephen's on-camera buzz cut -- he puts in a quick cameo in this clip as he tells a graduating class to stay strong. Thanks again to No Fact Zone for the tip off! A great American - whether in character or not. Thanks, Stephen! Update: here's the full episode from Monday on ColbertNation.com .

The New York Times is reporting Stephen Colbert is taping his show this week before the troops in Iraq. The shows will be aired starting June 8 (tomorrow). He's been talking about doing this for some time now. This ought to be an amazing set of shows This guy is amazing -- in addition to this trip, Colbert sponsors a site called d onorschoose.org which raises money for school supplies for children of soldiers, and uses the proceeds for his WristStrong bracelets (from when he broke his wrist during the show's warmup) to help injured veterans. Don't ever confuse the man with the character he plays. Thanks and a hat tip to the No Fact Zone for alerting me to this.