The Colbert Report Gets Indie Cred
Live Band Performances Now a Fixture on TV's Truthiest Half Hour
Oct 14, 2009
On any given day Monday through Thursday at 11:50 or so, TV viewers can tune into Comedy Central and watch as Stephen Colbert’s current guest awkwardly attempts to answer questions while gauging how to react to the host’s impenetrable deadpan façade. But, in recent episodes the closing segment has been given over to relatively low profile music acts performing tracks to promote upcoming releases.
Better Know A Band...
In recent weeks The Mountain Goats and The Flaming Lips have made appearances on the show, each performing a new track and offering their upcoming albums streaming in full on colbertnation.com for a limited time afterwards. The national exposure that smaller bands have received from appearing on the show assures that they, like guest politicians and Firefox, will be recipients of the Colbert Bump.
The show’s promotion of lesser-known artists began back in 2006 when The Decemberists challenged Colbert to a guitar solo-off on a December 20th episode. The contest was a way to resolve a dispute that started when Colbert accused the band of copying his idea to use a green screen in order to allow fans to create their own videos using prerecorded foreground footage.
The showdown was a massive, star-studded affair. In addition to lead guitarist Chris Funk representing the Decemberists, it featured Peter Frampton playing for an injured Colbert, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and a five-necked guitar he donated to the host for the occasion, and even Henry Kissinger acting as the official telling guests when to begin playing. The event was one of the first times live performances were featured on the Report, and its success proved it wouldn’t be the last.
Since 2006 the Colbert Report has played host to many bands including: Wilco, Feist, David Byrne, TV on the Radio, and the Decemberists as a whole. While interviewing band members before their performances Colbert often relaxes his what-would-Bill-O’Reilly-do mentality to express sincere fandom, generally the only time during the show viewers get a glimpse of what Colbert legitimately enjoys.
The performances themselves, in addition to making ideal promotional appearances, have generally made for pretty entertaining TV. From Wilco’s calculated placement of a Barack Obama picture to The Flaming Lips’ use of every conceivable instrument besides the shofar underneath Colbert’s desk, the musical performances on the Report have captured an exciting concert atmosphere in the three to four minute time slot each act is allotted.
Tonight's Word: Captivating
The Colbert Report has carved out a niche for itself, much like The Daily Show, as a news show accurately reflecting just how absurd the news actually is. Perhaps the most ridiculous part about Stephen Colbert’s TV persona is that it’s only a slight distortion of that of serious Fox News talking heads. The recent emphasis on performances is one of the few breaks from the show’s parody of conservative personality-driven news shows, and it is just one reason why The Colbert Report is consistently captivating.
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