Early Press Coverage
Cable channel C-SPAN broadcast the White House Correspondents Dinner live, and rebroadcast the event several times in the next 24 hours, but aired a segment that excluded Colbert's speech. The trade journal Editor & Publisher was the first news outlet to report in detail on Colbert's performance, calling it a "blistering comedy 'tribute'" that did not make the Bushes laugh. The reviewer noted that others on the podium were uncomfortable during the speech,"perhaps feeling the material was a little too biting—or too much speaking 'truthiness' to power".
The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune covered the dinner, but not Colbert's remarks. The wire services Reuters and the Associated Press each devoted three paragraphs to discuss Colbert's routine in their coverage of the event, and The Washington Post mentioned Colbert several times throughout its article. The most extensive print coverage came from USA Today, which dedicated more space to Colbert's performance than to President Bush's skit. Videos on the web sites of CNN and Fox News had clips of the Presidential comic routine, but no footage of Colbert's performance. On their morning shows the Monday after the event, the three major networks and CNN's American Morning played clips of Bush's routine, but no footage from Colbert's portion of the event. The day after the dinner, Howard Kurtz played clips of Colbert's performance on his CNN show Reliable Sources. On the Fox News show Fox & Friends, the hosts mentioned Colbert's performance, criticizing him for going "over the line". Tucker Carlson, a frequent target of The Colbert Report before and after the event, criticized Colbert as being "unfunny" on his MSNBC show Tucker.
Much of the initial coverage of the event highlighted the difference between the reaction to Bush and Bridges (very positive) and that for Colbert (far more muted). "The president killed. He's a tough act to follow—at all times," said Colbert. On his show, Colbert joked that the unenthusiastic reception was actually "very respectful silence" and added that the crowd "practically carried me out on their shoulders" even though he was not ready to leave. On the May 1, 2006, episode of The Daily Show, on which Colbert had formerly been a correspondent, host Jon Stewart called Colbert's performance "balls-alicious" and stated, "We've never been prouder of our Mr. Colbert, and, ah—holy shit!'"
Lloyd Grove, gossip columnist for the New York Daily News, said that Colbert "bombed badly", and BET founder Bob Johnson remarked, "It was an insider crowd, as insider a crowd as you'll ever have, and didn't do the insider jokes". Congressional Quarterly columnist and CBS commentator Craig Crawford found Colbert's performance hilarious, but observed that most other people at the dinner did not find the speech amusing. Time magazine TV critic James Poniewozik thought that Colbert's critics missed the point: "Colbert wasn't playing to the room, I suspect, but to the wide audience of people who would later watch on the Internet. If anything, he was playing against the room." Poniewozik called the pained, uncomfortable reactions to Colbert's jokes "the money shots. They were the whole point."
Read more about this topic: Stephen Colbert At The 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
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