America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy

221 Pages·2011·4.8 MB·English

by  Sophia A. McClennen (auth.)

EDUCATION, POLITICS, AND PUBLIC LIFE
S eries Editors:
Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University
S usan Searls Giroux, McMaster University
Within the last three decades, education as a political, moral, and ideologi-
cal practice has become central to rethinking not only the role of public
and higher education, but also the emergence of pedagogical sites outside
schools—which include but are not limited to the Internet, television, film,
magazines, and the media of print culture. Education as both a form of
schooling and public pedagogy reaches into every aspect of political, eco-
nomic, and social life. What is particularly important in this highly interdisci-
plinary and politically nuanced view of education are a number of issues that
now connect learning to social change, the operations of democratic public
life, and the formation of critically engaged individual and social agents.
At the center of this series will be questions regarding what young people,
adults, academics, artists, and cultural workers need to know to be able to
live in an inclusive and just democracy and what it would mean to develop
institutional capacities to reintroduce politics and public commitment into
everyday life. Books in this series aim to play a vital role in rethinking the
entire project of the related themes of politics, democratic struggles, and
critical education within the global public sphere.
SERIES EDITORS:
HENRY A. GIROUX holds the Global TV Network Chair in English and
Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Canada. He is on the editorial
and advisory boards of numerous national and international scholarly jour-
nals. P rofessor Giroux was selected as a Kappa Delta Pi Laureate in 1998
and was the recipient of a Getty Research Institute Visiting Scholar Award
in 1999. He was the recipient of the Hooker Distinguished Professor Award
for 2001. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Memorial
University of Newfoundland in 2005. His most recent books include Take
Back Higher Education (co-authored with Susan Searls Giroux, 2006);
America on the Edge (2006); B eyond the Spectacle of Terrorism (2006), S tormy
Weather: Katrina and the Politics of Disposability (2006), The University
in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex (2007),
and Against the Terror of Neoliberalism: Politics Beyond the Age of Greed
(2008).
SUSAN SEARLS GIROUX is Associate Professor of English and
Cultural Studies at McMaster University. Her most recent books include
The Theory Toolbox (co-authored with Jeff Nealon, 2004) and Take Back
Higher Education (co-authored with Henry A. Giroux, 2006), and B etween
Race and Reason: Violence, Intellectual Responsibility, and the University to
Come (2010). Professor Giroux is also the Managing Editor of T he Review of
Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies .
ALSO IN THE SERIES:
Critical Pedagogy in Uncertain Times: Hope and Possibilities
Edited by Sheila L. Macrine
The Gift of Education: Public Education and Venture Philanthropy
Kenneth J. Saltman
Feminist Theory in Pursuit of the Public: Women and the “Re-Privatization”
of Labor
Robin Truth Goodman
Hollywood’s Exploited: Public Pedagogy, Corporate Movies, and Cultural
Crisis
Edited by Benjamin Frymer, Tony Kashani, Anthony J. Nocella, II, and
Richard Van Heertum; with a Foreword by Lawrence Grossberg
Education out of Bounds: Reimagining Cultural Studies for a Posthuman
Age
Tyson E. Lewis and Richard Kahn
Academic Freedom in the Post-9/11 Era
Edited by Edward J. Carvalho and David B. Downing
Educating Youth for a World beyond Violence: A Pedagogy for Peace
H. Svi Shapiro
Rituals and Student Identity in Education: Ritual Critique for a New
Pedagogy
Richard A. Quantz with Terry O’Connor and Peter Magolda
Citizen Youth: Culture, Activism, and Agency in a Neoliberal Era
Jacqueline Kennelly
Conflicts in Curriculum Theory: Challenging Hegemonic Epistemologies
João M. Paraskeva; Foreword by Donaldo Macedo
Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation: Consumption and the Cultural
Politics of Neoliberalism
Joshua I. Newman and Michael D. Giardina
America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy
Sophia A. McClennen
America According to
Colbert
Satire as Public Pedagogy
Sophia A. McClennen
AMERICA ACCORDING TO COLBERT
Copyright © Sophia A. McClennen, 2011.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011
All rights reserved.
First published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137-01472-6 ISBN 978-1-137-34309-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-34309-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McClennen, Sophia A.
America according to Colbert : satire as public pedagogy /
Sophia A. McClennen.
p. cm.— (Education, politics and public life)
1. Colbert, Stephen, 1964—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Political
satire, American. 3. United States—Politics and government—
1989–1993—Humor. I. Title.
PN2287.C5695M44 2011
973.92902’07—dc23 2011017102
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: November 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing in 2012
For Isabel and Sebastian
Future Members of the Colbert Nation
Contents
Preface i x
Introduction 1
1 I Stand by This Man: Colbert Speaks
Truthiness to Power 13
2 The Public at Risk: Dissent and Democracy
after 9/11 41
3 Proud to Be an American Satirist 69
4 America According to T he Colbert Report :
Or How a TV Show Can Change the
Way a Nation Thinks 97
5 Amusing Ourselves to Activism? 169
Notes 1 83
Index 2 05
Preface
“H
ey, you’ve got to see this!” These are the words that first intro-
duced me to the art of Stephen Colbert’s satire as I sat down to watch
a streaming video of a comedian roasting the President on a site called
ThankYouStephenColbert.org in the spring of 2006. Watching that
video goes on record for me (and for many others) as a turning point
during those years. It would be fair to say that many of us marked the
Bush years according to the temporal shift from B C (Before Colbert)
to A D (After Dinner). There was something thoroughly extraordinary
about his performance that night. This was a form of satire that was
totally outrageous—outrageous for its humor, for its boldness, and for
its creative way of speaking truth to power. It wasn’t long after seeing
his performance that I began thinking about writing this book.
Colbert is always on the move. His persona and his show are ever
evolving and the reference points he makes to current events are inex-
haustible. This broad range of material meant that it would not be
possible to cover every part of his work that I thought would be of
interest to readers. I opted instead to focus on ongoing themes and to
analyze major moments in his satire within that context. It was hard
not to be infected by Colbert’s charisma, and I found myself laughing
out loud constantly as I rescreened pieces from The Colbert Report
and read over transcripts of his work. All writing should be this fun.
Thanks not only to Colbert but also to all of his staff and writers
who work together on his material. While I write about the Colbert
persona as the product of Stephen Colbert, it is important to remem-
ber that the creation of the Colbert persona has been a collective
effort.
We always want to thank those that helped us during the pro-
cess of writing, but it remains clear that it is never possible to fully
acknowledge all of those who helped, encouraged, and lent a hand.
Possibly because of the nature of the book topic, this was the least
solitary writing experience I’ve had and I was very fortunate to have
a large group of colleagues and friends accompany me through this
process. Among these, a few deserve special mention.
x Preface
This book would not have been possible without the friendship
and the critical work of Henry Giroux. He remains one of my most
valued friends and one of my greatest sources of scholarly insight. I
was also privileged to have the ongoing support of Ariel Dorfman,
who continues to be a valued mentor and collaborator. John “Rio”
Riofrio was an enormous source of support as well, reading chapters
on the fly, offering encouragement, and acting as a sounding board
throughout this process. Special thanks to all three of them.
As anyone who has written on Colbert well knows, the Colbert
Nation is the premier source of information and insight into his
work. Without their blogs, websites, tweets, Wikipedia entries, and
other sources about Colbert, this book would simply not have been
possible.
Thanks are also due to Henry Morello, who first introduced me to
the video of Colbert at the White House Correspondents’ Association
Dinner.
During my college years, I had the extraordinary good fortune
to be a part of the Harvard Lampoon staff. I am absolutely certain
I would not have written this book had I not had that experience.
From brief moments spent partying with Conan O’Brian when he
returned to hang out with his fellow lampooners to years work-
ing with staff members Bill Oakley, Bob Neer, Dan Greaney, Steve
Young, Steve Tompkins, and too many others to mention, I learned
about humor—especially satirical humor. The memories I have of my
time at the L ampoon remain some of my best moments from college,
and I want to thank both fellow staff members as well as the institu-
tion of the Lampoon itself.
At The Pennsylvania State University, I have been grateful for the
extraordinary support of all of my colleagues and especially for the
encouragement of Carey Eckhardt. Jon Abel, Tom Beebee, Jeremy
Engels, Chip Gerfen, Eric Hayot, Jonathan Marks, and Dan Purdy,
each deserve thanks for their collegiality, critical feedback, and
support.
Special thanks to Joaquín Dorfman, who gave me helpful pointers
and passed on useful comments during the writing process.
A number of colleagues and good friends lent an ear, provided
important dialogue, and offered insights to me while I was writing this
book. Gene Bell-Villada, Debra Castillo, Deb Cohn, Angela Dadak,
Greg Dawes, James Dawes, Rodrigo Dorfman, Jeffrey Di Leo, David
Downing, Claire Fox, Susan Searls Giroux, Jeffrey Middents, Robin
Goodman, Ricardo Gutiérrez-Mouat, Jennifer Harford Vargas, Peter
Hitchcock, Leerom Medovoi, Uppinder Mehan, Julie Minich, Bill
Preface xi
Mullen, Silvia Nagy-Zekmi, Donald Pease, Claudia Sadowski-Smith,
Rob Schwaller, Joseph Slaughter, Paul Smith, Jeffrey Williams, Zahi
Zalloua and many others have been valued sources of engaged cri-
tique and friendship.
This book would not be what it is without the tremendous efforts
of a number of research assistants who tracked down research materi-
als, did literature surveys, found websites and other Colbert resources,
and helped with the citations and editing of the manuscript. Special
thanks to Michelle Decker, Caroline Egan, Cory Hahn, Sara Marzioli,
and Leisa Rothlisberger. Thanks also to my students who offered me
opportunities to share my work and get their feedback, especially José
Alvarez, Germán Campos-Muñoz, Spencer Delbridge, Lorena Cuya
Gavilano, and Nicole Sparling.
I have also had the good friendship of a series of colleagues in
Germany who have become important interlocutors for my work.
Thanks especially to Luz Kirschner, and to Alexander Greiffenstern,
Markus Heide, Willy Raussert, Josef Raab, and Stefan Rinke.
Special mention must go to the staff with which I have had the
good fortune to work this past year. Their hard work and eye for
detail freed up needed space and time for me to write. Thanks to
Jamie Frazell, Irene Grassi, Sarah Lyall-Combs, and Amy Tegeder for
all of the various ways that they have offered me support. I am also
grateful for the work of Kaylan Connally, Burk Gerstenschlager, and
the staff at Palgrave who helped steer this book to press.
I wrote this book quickly (at least by my standards) and at a par-
ticularly intense moment in my life. At the same time, I had the ben-
efit of a group of friends who helped me in too many ways to fully
recount. Matthew Restall and Amara Solari have been both lifesavers
and life-enhancers. Robert Denby has also been a great source of
good wit and good cheer. Friends like Garrett Fagen, Khusro Kidwai,
Michael Kuliakowski, On Cho Ng, and Dave Skipper also made the
writing experience much more enjoyable. Thanks to Nancy Chiswick
and Daniel Greenberg who literally kept me together during this pro-
cess. I also had the good fortune during this time to learn from and
share thoughts with Bryn and Devyn Spielvogel. They helped pro-
vide balance and offered opportunities for distraction and fun when
I needed it most.
Finally (I hope!) I have written a book that my family might read.
I am especially looking forward to hearing from my brother, Peter,
his wife, Michelene, and, one day, from Ryan too. I also look forward
to the thoughts of Jamie, Stephania, Mim, Susu, Edgar, Doug, Amy,
Andrew, Michelle, Peter, Kathy, and LeAnn. Big thanks to Krystyana