For 20 years, Stephen Colbert distinguished truth from truthiness

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/18/nx-s1-5815315/stephen-colbert-final-show

by geox • 2 months ago

13 14 2 months ago

palmotea2• 2 months ago

Colbert highlighted [truthiness] on the very first episode of his Colbert Report, a spinoff of The Daily Show which featured him as a blown-up parody of TV pundits like original Fox News Channel star Bill O'Reilly — championing the idea of believing something because it feels true, regardless of the facts. "I don't trust books," he says in a segment from that first show. "They're all facts and no heart."
...
"Stephen Colbert has shown, more so than anyone else of this modern era of late night, the power of sticking to the truth," says Roy Wood Jr., a former correspondent on The Daily Show and host of CNN's satire program, Have I Got News for You.

The problem is there isn't just one "truth" (at least in politics and many other things). Liberals like to believe that "truthiness" is just the other guys' problem, which is a pretty "truthy" belief itself.

One of the most dangerous and foolish beliefs is the one where you you believe your side has access to the truth and the other side is all lies.

And while some critics have theorized that part of the slide in ratings among network TV late night shows might be attributed to the hosts' increasingly intense political stands, Carter disagrees. He says modern media consumers often operate in an information silo where online algorithms push content at them, which reinforces what they already believe – making it tough for anyone to craft comedy which speaks across a wide swath of consumers.

Colbert played a significant role in creating and maintaining those silos. He definitely wasn't an antidote in any sense. I watched him for several years, but eventually got tried of his show because I realized it wasn't really that funny, it was more a setup to get viewers to think "I too do not like that man, we are right and superior to those who disagree."

mcphage• 2 months ago

Ah, yes. Everything other than milquetoast centrism is immoral. If you proclaim “the emperor is wearing no clothes”, it’s just as bad as parading about in the nude.

hobonation• 2 months ago

Self-deprecation is evidence of an inquisitive mind. Punching down is the opposite.

jauntywundrkind2• 2 months ago

The fact checkers have mountains to say on one party and one party only, and it's not because they are biased.

One side is a deceiving host, engaging in a war against reality and justice. And is selling din and madness to the world, is striving to tear things apart, as much as it can. Keeping people unmoored & off balance, flooding the zone with shit, even if most of it gets swatted back, works to keep letting bits of the disreality leak through.

It's not the liberals. The liberals are not trying to hurt the world. Are not trying to loot it. https://bsky.app/profile/spaceforcecadet.bsky.social/post/3m...

Bender2• 2 months ago

I enjoyed watching Stephen Colbert when he was on the Colbert Report. He had a great persona while preserving truth. Ever since he went to the late show he changed significantly for the worse in my opinion. He became much more of a propaganda tool. I dislike when fun characters are turned into such tools. It's just my opinion. Nobody's gonna breaka my stride.

nh23423fefe• 2 months ago

You are saying he changed. But are you confusing a character for the person?

You say he preserved truth as 'Colbert' but literally that character lied all the time.

Bender2• 2 months ago

I am saying that he used parodies of a persona to make humor out of truthful situations but after the move he was just a tool. Perhaps still funny to some but there is no confusion on my part. This is of course my opinion which I am entitled to. Others are entitled to their opinions as well.

bigbadfeline• 2 months ago

Ever since he went to the late show... he became much more of a propaganda tool.

Pure coincidence, times have changed, we live in propaganda time now, blatant, unscrupulous, subversive. All media and public figures got pulled into the whirlwind.

Colbert isn't much of a propagandist, with regard to truth and propaganda almost everyone else is worse than him, there's absolutely no reason to single him out.

In absolute terms he could do better, but in the light of nobody being better than him, that's not the issue, the issue is that the already twisted media space will definitely lose from his departure.

The way he was pushed out is quite instructive and points to a rather bleak media future.

cheeseomlit• 2 months ago

He was always a propaganda tool, he just did a better job of it when he was in-character and had funny writers

DivingForGold• 2 months ago

Glad to see him go, maybe he can star in some Trailer Park Boys episodes ?

jauntywundrkind2• 2 months ago

There is such a flagrant assault on reality, because it keeps people unmoored. The Adam Curtis documentary Hypernormalization is the ultimate tale of this, talks so closely to the Baudrillardian truthiness that is required to just begin to entertain the din and bedlam being unleashed on the world, to keep it weak and confused, as these looting insane barbarians wreak havoc on the nation and the world.

Trump is absolutely correct that this is a country in strong decline. He's know, he and his administration have driving the plane, are sending us directly into the ground. And they need cover to do it all in, to keep the shrinking base engaged and fanatatical, in their hypernormal alternate reality

Thank you Colbert. And amazing job, over many years. You are loved.

karmakurtisaani• 2 months ago

I really wanted to like guys like Colbert, Stewart and Kimmel, but just can't. They just don't have the charisma and feel like they pander to the audience. So for me, the only one is Conan.

palmotea2• 2 months ago

Conan is the best.

Sohcahtoa82• 2 months ago

I love Colbert and Stewart.

Are they pandering to me? Yeah, probably. But no charisma? Hard disagree there.

Colbert was much better in The Colbert Report, where he got to play a character. I didn't care for his delivery as much on The Late Show. Maybe you're slightly right on the charisma thing. His style just doesn't work when he's not playing a character.

Stewart has another problem: He wanted to start being taken seriously. I think he wanted to point out real problems and have real discussions, but he was just dismissed as a comedian. Since he came back to The Daily Show, his format changed slightly. Near the end of his segment, he'll have a monologue where he drops the jokes and talks solemnly.

When the jester stops smiling, the kingdom is in trouble.

For 20 years, Stephen Colbert distinguished truth from truthiness

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