My hope for the coming recession is that it will reacquaint the public with the subtle art of intelligent satire (and cause better music to be made of course).

Stephen Colbert (character)

Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. (pronounced /koʊlˈbɛər/) is the fictional persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, portrayed most notably on The Colbert Report. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot,"[1] the character is a blustery, self-obsessed right-wing commentator with a strong distaste for facts. He incorporates aspects of the real Colbert's life and interests, but is modelled primarily as a parody of cable news pundits, particularly Bill O'Reilly.[2]

Regular Daily Show or Colbert Report audiences are well in on the joke. The Daily Show (despite being on Comedy Central) is probably the best political show on US television. The Colbert Report is a spin-off from The Daily Show.

The guy Colbert was obviously trying his best to ridicule you and get a laugh.

I disagree; Colbert served up for Kunstler on a golden platter. Creamy nougat center - looked like Colbert was going to laugh there. It must be wicked hard to keep up with him in a live situation. Kunstler did great. And yeah, getting laughs is essential. A creamy nougat with your peak oil, sir? Cheese doodles?

cfm in Gray, ME

IMHO, you don't understand his satire.

I think Colbert helped him along.

Just look at it. This is the Comedy Channel we're talkin' about here.

You need to watch Colbert a little more.

Deadpan is the new kickdrum.

He's one of the most popular talkshow hosts on the air right now, particularly among young people. His reverence is verging on culthood on the internet - John Stewart (the parent show) was never this popular. He's spoofing O'Reilly (which Stewart achieves by simply playing back conflicting videos of his own words) as the megalomaniacal right wing Talk Show host. That's the schtick. And it's really, really funny if you're familiar with the horrible people he parodies.

Even if the topic needed a few more minutes... This is possibly the most friendly reception I've seen him give anybody - he set up the softball questions, and Kunstler managed as well as anyone I've seen at hitting them out of the park. Combative *enough* to get his point through, without getting too technical or oppositional.

If you want to see a pure hit job(with no substantive reason or analysis behind it), there are plenty of talking heads who specialize in that kind of thing - defending the status quo consensus against new and unfamiliar points using nothing but rabid venom. Pit him in a 5 minute interview against a genuinely oppositional host(Beck could play the part, if Jim thought government could help us significantly) and IMO someone with Jim's temper would either walk out or give him a black eye.