Tuesday
Jul142009
Rushkoff on the Colbert Report
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 10:09PM | in Press, Video/TV/Movies
This is it: I'm doing The Colbert Report Wednesday, July 15, 11:30pm on Comedy Central, repeated the next day in earlier time slots. Check your local listings, or watch the segment on the show's website.
I have to admit this is the one media appearance I'm a little nervous about. Not that Colbert is an unfriendly host. He's really one of us, pretending to be one of "them." The trick is to remember that he's actually drawing out a guest's best arguments by playing the enemy. (As one of the producers told me, "pretend you're speaking to an eight-year-old.")
But he plays the part well - so well, in fact, that he often wins debates even against his own left-leaning version of the Colbert character. Conversations can also quickly devolve into an argument over a single issue as Colbert mines it for comedic potential. This can make for great entertainment, but can also prevent the guest from getting out his main and most important points.
I'm making a list of talking points (that I'll surely forget once I'm actually on) but I welcome you to share the arguments you think most need to be heard. I'll do my best to weave them in.
I have to admit this is the one media appearance I'm a little nervous about. Not that Colbert is an unfriendly host. He's really one of us, pretending to be one of "them." The trick is to remember that he's actually drawing out a guest's best arguments by playing the enemy. (As one of the producers told me, "pretend you're speaking to an eight-year-old.")
But he plays the part well - so well, in fact, that he often wins debates even against his own left-leaning version of the Colbert character. Conversations can also quickly devolve into an argument over a single issue as Colbert mines it for comedic potential. This can make for great entertainment, but can also prevent the guest from getting out his main and most important points.
I'm making a list of talking points (that I'll surely forget once I'm actually on) but I welcome you to share the arguments you think most need to be heard. I'll do my best to weave them in.
Reader Comments (30)
You have to think that Colbert will play on the book's title in order to make it seem as though you're taking on the usual lefty critique of the greedy, profit-at-all-costs corporation. A casual audience might even assume you're making this same tired argument if he comes at you in that way. I think it will be important to avoid falling into that trap and play up how this is really an issue of how the values of the corporation have been assumed by regular, everyday folks. It might be productive to mention our economic collapse in terms of biases that favor certain behaviors rather than as something resulting from pure greed on the part of a few elites. Maybe that'll keep him off balance. Good luck!
The main/most unique point I got out of Life Inc was that what we call our "economy" is a specific, human-constructed game our ancestors decided to play - it's not "the world" or "reality".
So long as you make it clear you're criticising the rules of that game, and not the distasteful-but-necessary behaviour that wins/gets results in that game, you'll make the main point I got out of the book - that corporatism is "software not hardware".
Congrats and good luck.
Don't try to say too much, just one or two points. Don't be too serious -- flow with the humor.
He never lets his guests make a point. I say play it safe and stick to your historical review of corporate charters. It will be a history lesson for the viewers, it will pique their curiosity. If you talk about the modern day, he'll just end up calling you a socialist.
Interesting - most people have told me to stay away from the whole Renaissance thing.
I was hoping to make the same two points you have just listed: First, that it's not about corporate activity so much as the way we've internalized corporate values, and begun to measure our success as a society using corporate metrics. And second, that the corporate market in which we're living is not a given circumstance, but a game put in place at a particular moment in time. There are alternatives - it is software, not hardware.
Originally, I was thinking to flow with the humor - but the show's producers seem to think the object of the game is to stay on track, and keep pulling him back to the topic. Look at how Naomi Klein engaged:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/186550/october-02-2008/naomi-klein
Watching her segment, and how forcefully she kept on her agenda really changed my thinking about what can be accomplished. No?
Douglas, have fun with Colbert tonight. Laugh at his jokes even if they are at your own expense. I find if he gets a couple of good jokes in early in the interview, he relaxes and lets the guest make his points towards the end. The mugging story would be a good one to lead with, it offers humor opportunities for Colbert, and it is a simple and powerful story that supports your thesis.
Good luck!!!!
yes, the trick is to play it straight
see the Liberian president from last night
she was awesome
First of all congrats on landing Colbert!
Since most people watching will assume you are some super lefty pinko, and Colbert will surely play on this, it might be wise to mention something about your message appealing a lot more to a Libertarian free-market ethos than anything remotely communist. Huge corporations tend to become oligopolistic, which is anti free-market and -- Colbert will love this -- anti-American. Also it will probably help book sales if viewers realize you are actually pro small business, real commerce, value creation, etc. and not, well, whatever they are scared of. :)
Good luck!
It can be done. I should think, after so much exposure, you're in complete command of all your narrative tropes. Naomi hears Colbert, let's him get the quality and quantity of laughter due. She visibly registers the humour, integrating Colbert's comic timing with her own. At the same time, the viewer is sensing the Colbert Rapport, Naomi is making modal adjustments: going with a flow adopting or explicitly modifying a Colbert trope or mode with one of her own from the original topic, or (if changed by Colbert) from the "new" topic.
The Rapport is modal. Think of the stuff of your book as "Filling." There is something in there for every turn of conversation.
I wager the "Two Economies" trope may come in handy. You do not have to make everything explicit or follow every chapter to it's origin or conclusion. It is especially cool when Colbert picks up an aspect of the author's method as a means of going meta. If it happens at all, it usually happens two thirds to three quarters of the way through when successful.
I'm sure you two will make beautiful music together. His economy and our economy, living in perfect harmony, like ebony and ivory, (even though Steven doesn't see blackness).
-mason
You've tackled every speaking engagement and question/answer session I've seen you in. No need to over-analyze, I'm sure it'll be fine. At worst it will be funny, and at best funny and convincing.
This is going to be great
I think you two will play
off each other very well
I'm going to turn off all the
sports shows at the bar tonight
and make everyone watch
Can't wait
New Small Businesses are OWNED by Digital Natives - we grew up establishing the creative collaborative environment that exists on the Internet.
Today's new small businesses (which hopefully can be tomorrow's large businesses) WANT a collaborative bottom-up economy and financial system. We WANT to be involved, not only in the earning of money, but potentially in the CREATING of a money.
I'm be willing to accept Comfort Dollars, on a one-to-one basis with a yet-to-be-creatively-named "dollar" within my own company.
- DrAndy
Oh, almost forgot!
Go with the Renaissance-as-marketing-plot idea. Frame is as a scheme by the "liberals of that time period". Cross your fingers that he runs with that and teams up with you.
Good luck, I'll be watching from my storm-wracked Minneapolis hotel room!
- DrAndy
That might have been the most I ever heard Colbert let his guest just talk. I think maybe you flustered him at the start by getting applause with your first statement; and after that he couldn't find a chink in your armor. I wished it had been a longer interview, but congratulations on getting it at all!
Might also be worth mentioning that your book tells how it's one of his 'ancestors' (Jean-Baptiste) that's to blame for the entire thing ;)
A small smoke bomb and a stout pair of running shoes could be handy as a backup plan...
Of course, there's also a reasonable chance his researchers are reading this, so probably the best thing to do is take on board all the suggestions here (including this one) and then do the exact opposite.
I saw your appearance tonight, though I had not heard of you or your writing previously. You did a phenomenal job of presenting your ideas to the Cobert Nation. Congratulations! I immediately searched for further information and will buy the book as soon as I find it. I would order it online, but do not want to wait for it to ship. I loved your concise, easy to understand concepts and the way it gave voice to how I have felt for many years.
Impressed
Homebody
[...] Doug Rushkoff on The Colbert Report tonight Wednesday, July 15 [...]
I have always ranted against how corporations inject themselves into every fiber of our lives. As a sex nerd, I see it a lot in the mass commercializatoin and accessorization of an activity that is supposed to be free and enjoyed by people in person.
great job.
i think you made the most (possible) of these 5 minutes.
;¬)
Congrats on a job hugely well done. Truly one of the most impressive interviews I ever saw on the Colbert Report; seems like this time Stephen was really rooting for you to get the message out. Gotta love that guy :-)
There were a couple of impressive moments, including your first line and the GDP-cancer thing. I think you just enlarged your audience in a very good way.
Lemme check if HuffPo already has something up :-)
I wish that I could see the episode, but I am an expat in India right now, and, YouTube doesn't have it up just yet.
A while back, Amy Goodman went on Colbert, and her appearance was used by researchers who studied people's propensity to forget or dis-acknowledge that he is a satire on conservatism. The report, 'The Irony of Satire', found that conservatives are most likely to think he's actually one of them.
You can watch Amy on CR and Olberman's coverage of the report here: http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/5/8/olberman_msnbc_coverage_of_study_of_colbert_report_that_used_amy_goodmans_appearance_on_colbert
I thought you did a great job last night. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you had a good time with it. I've had a good time sending the link around this morning. Besides being fun to watch, it's been a great way to start conversations with friends about something so fundamentally important (life).
Thank you very much!
Nice work on Colbert! It's impressive to a swede how you americans manage to talk so fast and get so much information and opinion in such a short period of time. Thanks for the amazing Testament and i'll be sure to check out your book.
Cheers!
Nice job Dougie! I think you actually stumped Colbert there at a few points...
RU
Based on the above comments Colbert was nice, non? He seemed to be very familiar with the material and even helped move it along so that the major points were touched on. Great job both of you!