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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 6, 2010 8:25:54 GMT -8
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 19, 2010 15:53:51 GMT -8
Colbert, U.S. Speedskating Sponsor, Plays With Roleby Howard Berkes / January 19, 2010 David Boily/AFP/Getty ImagesU.S. speedskater Katherine Reutter wears a "Colbert Nation" patch on her "billboard thighs." The funniest and least likely sponsorship in Olympic sports has U.S. Speedskating paired with comic Stephen Colbert. And the resulting mix of comedy and competition have raised eyebrows — and money. The host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report stepped in as a U.S. Speedskating sponsor in November after the speedskaters lost a major corporate backer — a bank that went bankrupt. Colbert To The RescueDutch Bank DSB had a four-year sponsorship arrangement worth $300,000 a year. Speedskating is a national sport in the Netherlands so even the speedskaters in other countries are valued. But DSB went bankrupt in October — just as the big push for next month's Olympics began. "Our budget would have had to been cut in a number of key areas," says U.S. Speedskating CEO Bob Crowley. Then came a surprise phone call from New York, a sprint to the airport, and the Nov. 2 taping of The Colbert Report. Crowley presented Colbert with sponsorship agreement papers and the Comedy Central star signed them on the spot, as the audience cheered "USA! USA! USA!" "This has been a lifesaver, literally," Crowley says. Colbert was not available for an interview for this story so it's unclear why he joined the U.S. Speedskating cause. And he didn't put up any of his own money. Instead, he asked his viewers to go to his Web site and pledge support to U.S. Speedskating. "We've got to step up and make sure it is America's 38-inch thighs on that medal platform!" Colbert shouted to his audience. Speedskating is also now part of Colbert's blustering comic send-ups of real bloviating talk show hosts. "Let's trash talk the Summer Games for just a second," Colbert said to short track medal prospect Katherine Reutter, during a show in December. Reutter was game: "Let's do it." Colbert ripped into Summer Olympics swimming sensation Michael Phelps. "How easy is it to swim through water?" Colbert asked. Turning to Reutter, he added. "You run on top of water with samurai swords strapped to your feet." Serious Skaters, Silly ShowReutter is a serious, hard-training skater, who can describe in exquisite detail the technical, physical and psychological challenges of her sport. "I always want to present myself as a poised athlete," she says. "Someone who is intelligent and hard-working, and I want for people to relate to me in that way." Colbert did ask Reutter about her training regimen, and then she asked him to sign his name on her "billboard thighs," as she freely calls them. Stunts like that make some wonder whether skaters lose their dignity with the Colbert connection. Short track star Shani Davis called Colbert a jerk. "You gotta be wary of people who might make these sports shticky" says Tripp Mickle, the Olympic writer for the Sports Business Journal. "And make them too much about a joke and not about what they really are." In fact, when Sports Illustrated put a speedskater on its cover, it wasn't Team USA's Katherine Reutter. It was Stephen Colbert, head-to-toe in a skin-tight Team USA racing suit. But Mickle believes Colbert has not crossed the line, so far, and Reutter agrees. "At the very beginning, we were all a little worried that maybe he'd poke fun at us," Reutter says. "We didn't want our life dream to be something that got poked fun at on Comedy Central. But that has never happened. I feel that I have more support and more people believe in me because of this show." Sponsorship SnagsThe sponsorship has had its challenges. At first, Colbert wanted his face on those billboard thighs, but given their varied dimensions and the flexed material — he'd have cheeks stretched wide like Silly Putty. So he went for the Colbert Nation logo instead. Then there was the nasty dis from Shani Davis. "I challenge you [Davis] to a speedskating race," Colbert announced on the show the night Reutter as a guest. "If I win, I get your spot on the U.S. Olympic team. But if you win, you get an autographed copy of my Sports Illustrated cover." Colbert and Davis did race, and the results are shown on two shows this week. As for the giving nature of the Colbert Nation: 9,760 Colbert viewers have contributed more than $300,000 so far, according to U.S. Speedskating. That more than makes up for the sponsorship of the bankrupt bank. But the Colbert sponsorship is a one-time-only deal. U.S. Speedskating now has to find a "real" sponsor offering a long-term commitment. But the exposure provided by The Colbert Report could make that task easier.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 20:02:12 GMT -8
Yep, I think part 1 is tonight!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 8:12:15 GMT -8
If you missed it, find it. It's hilarious. Tucker Fredricks was a great "coach" to Colbert. How he maintained his composure is beyond me. I was ROTF. Part 2 is on tonight.
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 20, 2010 10:15:38 GMT -8
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 21, 2010 0:07:13 GMT -8
The much-anticipated showdown between Shani Davis and Stephen Colbert was televised tonight - and the winner is: Naw, I'm not gonna tell yet - but I'll give you a hint: STEPHEN COLBERT MADE THE US SPEEDSKATING TEAM! More to follow...
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 21, 2010 7:43:58 GMT -8
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Post by mtnme on Jan 21, 2010 16:04:53 GMT -8
Those two segments were pretty hilarious....thanks for posting them Lori.
I just noticed this quote from Colbert on the same page as the article you posted on the Canadian chat thread which had me laughing out loud.
"It felt like I was being hit in the head with ice hammers. It was like losing the worst snowball fight of your life."
Comedian Stephen Colbert on riding in a bobsled
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 31, 2010 13:56:04 GMT -8
Watch the Colbert Report on Monday, Feb 1 for another Vancouver Olympics segment, featuring USS Sports Psychologist Nicole Miller and skater Jessica Smith in a 'scripted skit' to attempt to 'educate' Colbert about his new role as Assistant Sports Psychologist for the US team: Stephen Colbert takes his “Assistant Sports Psychologist” role very seriouslywww.nofactzone.net/?p=20015This should be good!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2010 9:44:50 GMT -8
Please tell me he will also be at the Pacific Coliseum:
Colbert heads to Olympics for medals and mockery (AP) By Daily News Editor Published: February 10, 2010 NEW YORK – Like many of the athletes vying for gold in Vancouver, Stephen Colbert’s Olympic training has been eventful.
He has already auditioned for the U.S. bobsled, skating and curling teams. He has angered a sizable portion of Canada. And he has landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Olympic preview.
Now, he’s preparing for the big event. While “The Colbert Report” is in repeats next week, the comedian will be in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the first week of the Olympics. He’ll be there recording a wealth of material for his show (to air beginning Feb. 22), attending events, conducting interviews and doing a kind of half-show from a stage set up outside the Olympic center.
“We’ll bring snow because I don’t think Vancouver has any,” he said in an interview, taking a swipe at the city’s sometimes watery precipitation.
Just as he has inserted himself into big events such as the 2008 election (during which he was briefly and illegitimately a candidate) and the Iraq war (he did a week of shows from Baghdad in 2009), Colbert has made himself a key figure for the XXI Olympic Games, which start Friday.
When the U.S. Speedskating team lost its primary sponsor last fall (the Dutch bank DSB went bankrupt), the “Report” stepped in with a novel idea. The show’s ardent fans had previously raised sizable amounts of money for charity, and the show suggested that the “Colbert Nation” could sponsor the skaters.
Fan donations filled the vacancy by raising more than $300,000. “Colbert Nation” is branded on the team’s suits and Colbert has had an active relationship with the squad.
The team has largely responded with gratitude. On his Comedy Central show, Colbert autographed the leg of speedskater Katherine Reutter, on her request. Robert Crowley, executive director of U.S. Speedskating, says Colbert has brought “great attention to our sport.” Apolo Anton Ohno has also applauded Colbert’s humor.
“I think he’s funny,” Ohno said earlier. “Our country is kind of in need of some humor right now, and it’s all for a good cause.”
But one of the team’s best skaters, the 2006 gold medalist Shani Davis, called Colbert “a jerk,” seemingly because Colbert had mockingly complained that Canada was limiting training time for foreign athletes at Vancouver venues.
Colbert says Davis never explained why he was upset, and says he never asked him. But for a particularly funny segment on “The Report,” Davis and Colbert faced off in a race where Davis easily beat Colbert despite a giant headstart.
Colbert says Davis was “a sweetheart” while filming and that he “understood our jokes completely.”
“I’ll like anyone who seems to like me,” he says.
Many Canadians, though, have been put off by Colbert’s frequent mockery. As a pseudo pundit, Colbert likes to elevate the U.S. above all other countries, making the Olympics — which he calls a combination “talent popularity-contest war” — prime fodder for parodic patriotism.
He has called Canadians “syrup-suckers,” “Saskatche-whiners,” and said Canadian history is a euphemism for a sex act so depraved, he can’t say it on TV.
Colbert still jokes that he’s going to Vancouver to find out “What is Canada? Or more importantly, why is Canada?”
But now that foreign athletes have received more ice time, Colbert says, “I’ve forgiven Canada. … I’m there to celebrate Canada at this point.”
As part of an arrangement made with NBC and NBC Universal Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol (who recently appeared on “The Report”), Colbert will be allowed to film inside the Richmond Olympic Oval. In exchange, he will join Bob Costas for commentary Feb. 17 on NBC.
But for all of his satire, it’s clear Colbert has a genuine love of the Olympics.
“It’s a festival,” he says. “What a great, rare honor it’s been to be helpful in any way to these beautiful athletes. I’m really in awe of what they do and I want to be there to support them.”
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2010 13:43:43 GMT -8
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2010 15:49:59 GMT -8
Colbert brings comedy act to Olympics By Jim Slater (AFP) – 3 hours ago
VANCOUVER — Stephen Colbert, the comedy show host who rescued US Speedskating from a sponsor bankruptcy and ripped Canadians as "syrup-suckers", is bringing his act to the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Colbert will broadcast his Comedy Central television show, an over-the-top parody of a conservative talk show called "The Colbert Report", from Vancouver on Wednesday and Thursday after playing up his Olympic link in recent weeks.
"Without me, they would be racing on butter knives nailed to a pair of (sneakers)," Colbert said on his show last month.
Colbert, who slammed Canadians for not allowing global rivals more pre-Olympic training time at Games venues, was made a US team assistant sport psychologist and looked forward to coming to Canada.
"I'm going to be able to interact with the people of the world and tell them why America is better," Colbert said on his show.
After Dutch bank DSB went bankrupt to wipe out a 300,000-dollar sponsorship for US Speedskating, viewers known as "Colbert Nation" were among those who donated 300,000 dollars to plug the budget gap.
A Sports Illustrated cover even declared, "Stephen Colbert Saves the Olympics".
"We're really fortunate he jumped on board," said 2006 Olympic 5,000-meter champion Chad Hedrick. "We needed it financially."
Shani Davis, the world record-holder at 1,000m and 1,500m and defending Olympic 1,000m champion, called Colbert a jerk in December but last month he "raced" Colbert, spotting him 13 minutes and still winning a skate around the 400-meter oval.
"He smoked me like a Virginia ham," Colbert said. "It was like watching a cheetah on skates."
Davis settled his differences with Colbert and they might even race again.
"It was fun to meet him in person. He was a really cool guy," Davis said. "I beat him, so it was even more fun. Maybe we can have a re-match."
Colbert added to more than just the bottom line for US speedskaters.
"He brought a lot of enthusiasm to the sport normally we don't get," said US speedskater Ryan Bedford.
"Not only do we get the funding that we need but also the publicity," added US short track speedskater Katherine Reutter.
Colbert has also taken his psychologist role to heart.
"He keeps us light-hearted," US long tracker Lauren Cholewinski said. "We get these funny messages from him that make us laugh."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2010 23:26:59 GMT -8
Colbert's in Vancouver through Friday!
Stephen Colbert to spend time with U.S. speedskating team at Olympics 08:08 PMYahoo! BuzzShare DiggNewsvineRedditE-mailSavePrintShare01 Comments
Recommend TV personality Stephen Colbert is shown on the Dec. 21, 2009 cover of CAPTIONBy APRICHMOND, B.C. -- Stephen Colbert, star of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report and unofficial member of the U.S. speedskating team, is expected to make his first appearance of the Games with the speedskaters Wednesday.
Olympians Tucker Fredricks, Lauren Cholewinski and Mitchell Whitmore will get together with the comedian for Shani Davis and Co.'s race in the men's 1,000 meters.
"I'll just be meeting up with him and watching the race," Cholewinski said after her 500 meters race Tuesday. "He's a funny guy. The Olympics are very tense and serious and he's helped bring out some humor."
Colbert has helped U.S. Speedskating raise more than $300,000 to offset the loss of a major sponsor just before the season and he aired a skit about a "challenge race" with Davis last month.
Short-track speedskater Katherine Reutter appeared on The Colbert Report in December and the host autographed her leg.
"You never know what to expect with him," Cholewinski said. "He's a comedian, so I feel like he'll probably just ask me a couple things and I won't even know how to react. That's what makes it funny."
Colbert is expected to be in Vancouver until Friday, visiting other teams besides speedskating
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Feb 18, 2010 16:15:01 GMT -8
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Mar 12, 2010 15:24:24 GMT -8
[glow=red,2,300]THANK YOU, COLBERT NATION![/glow]
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