on FX in the United Kingdom until they decided not to renew their contract in May 2009.[113] The show also has a strong following in Ireland.[citation needed] In Portugal, it airs on Sic Radical.

ed by Dick Ebersol, to be part of NBC's 2010 Winter Olympics coverage team.[112]
Cultural impact[edit]

Main article: Cultural impact of The Colbert Report
See also: Vandalism on Wikipedia#Seigenthaler_incident
On Wikipedia, Stephen Colbert has been accused for editing the Elephant article. He has asked his fans to edit articles many times, and stated facts he knew wasn't true.
International distribution[edit]

Outside of the United States, The Colbert Report is shown in Canada on The Comedy Network. It airs on The Comedy Channel in Australia, Comedy Central in New Zealand, and on Maxxx in the Philippines. As of 2012, The Colbert Report has also been broadcast in Africa on DSTV's version of Comedy Central. It aired on FX in the United Kingdom until they decided not to renew their contract in May 2009.[113] The show also has a strong following in Ireland.[citation needed] In Portugal, it airs on Sic Radical.
Beginning June 3, 2008, The Colbert Report also aired on the ShowComedy channel of Showtime Arabia (Currently OSNComedy), a channel which broadcasts in the Middle East and North Africa.[114] The show is transmitted on a one-day delay from original transmission in the US.
The show was shown during prime time on Australia's free-to-air ABC2 in 2010, however the channel was outbid for rights for 2011.[115][116] The show was available directly on the colbernation.com website for part of 2011, with Australian advertisements, however Australian access is now blocked.
Several international markets also air The Colbert Report Global Edition, which shows highlights from the previous week's shows and includes a special introduction by Stephen Colbert at the start of the program. This means a new or newly repackaged episode can be screened every weekday.
In addition most recent episodes (usually 3 weeks back) are available in full length on colbertnation.com. However some international audiences are unable to view the videos or episodes.
Related multimedia[edit]

DVD[edit]
A DVD of highlights from the first two seasons of The Colbert Report was released by Comedy Central on November 6, 2007. Entitled The Best of The Colbert Report, the three-hour disc contains two "The Wørd" segments (including "Truthiness" from the first episode and "Wikiality"), one "Threat Down", various "Better Know a District" segments (including Robert Wexler), and interviews with Bill O'Reilly, Willie Nelson, and Jane Fonda (also included is Fonda's appearance with Gloria Steinem in a segment called "Cooking with Feminists"), as well as the special segments "Green Screen Challenge",

[read more..]

trated (as sponsor of the US Speedskating team) and Newsweek, in which he was the Guest Editor. On March 12, 2007, the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada, awarded Stephen Colbert the shield of the recently deceased superhero Captain America.[105] The letter to Colbert accompanying the sh

 new wing on the International Space Station, Stephen Colbert announced on his show that there was a write-in section where you could write your own suggestion for a name in. He encouraged his fans to write in "Colbert". When the sweepstakes was over, NASA announced that "Colbert" had beaten the next-most-popular choice, "Serenity," by over 40,000 votes on March 11, 2009. "Colbert" received 230,539 votes out of nearly 1.2 million cast.[102]
On April 15, 2009, NASA announced that instead of the new module being named after him, a treadmill on board the space station would be called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).[103]
Honors Bestowed by Media Organizations[edit]
Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #7.[104]
Colbert has appeared on the covers of several major magazines, including Wired, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Sports Illustrated (as sponsor of the US Speedskating team) and Newsweek, in which he was the Guest Editor.
On March 12, 2007, the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada, awarded Stephen Colbert the shield of the recently deceased superhero Captain America.[105] The letter to Colbert accompanying the shield stated that "the Star-Spangled Avenger has bequeathed... his indestructible shield to the only man he believed to have the red, white, and blue balls to carry the mantle." Colbert promised to use the shield "only to fight for justice...and to impress girls." It was, in fact, one of only two full-sized prop shields which had previously been kept in the Marvel offices.[106] On January 29, 2008, Quesada (now president of Marvel) returned to announce that Colbert's fictional campaign for the presidency was still active in the Marvel universe, references to which have appeared in Marvel comics since. Colbert appears on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #573.
At the end of 2008, The Colbert Report was named the number one television series of that year by Entertainment Weekly.
In 2010 Colbert won the Golden Tweet Award.
Arts[edit]
On October 17, 2008, it was announced that the portrait of Stephen from his second year of The Colbert Report was accepted into the national portrait collection at the National Museum of American History for its November reopening.
Athletics[edit]
On November 2, 2009, Colbert, representing the Colbert Nation, signed an on-air sponsorship agreement with U.S. speedskating executive director Robert Crowley.[107] Fundraising via The Colbert Report ultimately raised $300,000 for the US Winter Olympics speedskating team.[108] Coverage of the show's efforts also led to Colbert personally being invited to be the official ombudsman at the oval for the Olympics,[109] appointed as the official assistant sports psychologist for the US olympics speed skating team, and as such is now an official member of the team,[110][111] and invit

[read more..]

n The New Yorker, NPR's All Things Considered and Fresh Air, CNN, and The Washington Post. The New York Times alone ran three articles on the Report before its debut, and has made repeated references to The Colbert Report since then.[68] Maureen Dowd, for instance, referred to Col

that would inevitably finish with him promoting Law & Order: Criminal Intent.[63][64][65][66]
Additionally, R.E.M. lead vocalist Michael Stipe appears on the show periodically, sitting on a shelf as part of Stephen's permanent installation of memorabilia, calling "Hey-o!" (in emulation of Ed McMahon) or nodding at odd times.
Colbert's desk possesses its own arm, which will extend and receive a high-five from the host after he delivers a particularly clever or groan-worthy remark.
Reception[edit]

The Colbert Report currently scores favorable reviews, with 65/100 on Metacritic (first season), while its viewers ranking on the site is higher at 8.7/10.[67]
The Colbert Report drew an unusual amount of media attention prior to its premiere. It was featured in articles in The New Yorker, NPR's All Things Considered and Fresh Air, CNN, and The Washington Post. The New York Times alone ran three articles on the Report before its debut, and has made repeated references to The Colbert Report since then.[68] Maureen Dowd, for instance, referred to Colbert's "Dead To Me" board as a metaphor in her column, saying that Oprah Winfrey "should take a page from Stephen Colbert and put the slippery James Frey on her 'Dead to me' list".[69]
The Colbert Report drew 1.13 million viewers for its premiere episode, 47 percent greater than the average for that time slot over the previous four weeks,[70] and 98 percent of the viewership of The Daily Show, which has Comedy Central's second-largest viewership.[71] Averaged over its opening week, The Report had 1.2 million viewers per episode, more than double the average for the same time the previous year, when the time slot was occupied by Too Late with Adam Carolla. The premiere week of The Colbert Report also coincided with the second-highest-rated week of The Daily Show, behind the week leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election.[72]
The Colbert Report rapidly became an internet phenomenon, with a vast number of clips from the show being posted onto YouTube by fans. Subsequently references to YouTube were made in jokes on the show, which also launched the first "green screen challenge". On October 27, 2006, however, Comedy Central asserted its copyright over The Colbert Report clips, and YouTube removed all clips over 5 minutes in length. In February 2007, at Viacom's request, they removed all remaining Colbert Report clips.
Presented as non-satirical journalism[edit]

Tom DeLay Legal Defense Trust[edit]
In May 2006, the Tom DeLay Legal Defense Trust posted a video of The Colbert Report on its website and sent out a mass email urging DeLay suppo

[read more..]