Honestly speaking, in the past when I did not pay much attention to the complicated global news or my poor English level, I used to frown upon Stephen Colbert from "The Colbert Report." Not only that he always toyed with his interviewed guests, but also that he always talked a lot of what sounded to be total bias and nonsense. After a couple of years, however, my view about Colbert has completely changed. I even began to think that he might have surpassed his buddy and senior colleague Jon Stewart. For those who might not know Stewart, he is the host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" from 1999 to present, and he has also hosted two of the Oscar ceremonies. Stewart's style is more direct as he joked about or criticized his targets. For example, recently a politician attended a public event against gay marriage, and said that as leaders should be moral, thus he as a leader believes that he should protect the moral values. Of course, that politician's implying that gay marriage is an immoral practice. To respond, Stewart showed a video clip in which the same "morally righteous" politician was caught smoking illegal substance and looking undressed in a room with another female who apparently was not his wife. At this point, Stewart only needed to add a few funny comments, but the audience usually have already laughed all over the floor. Colbert has an entirely different approach than Stewart's by pretending to support his targets, but actually making the targets look bad in a very clever way. Because I could not really tell if Colbert was being serious or sarcastic, I used to mistake him for an inconsiderate and pompous person. But in a democratic and free-speech society, it is natural to have different points of view, so I just let him be. However, ever since I began to realize that Colbert was actually being sarcastic, and that he could even do so with a straight face and a steady pace, I can never help but give him more applause and respect. For instance, the following links that provide one of his recent shows are a great representation of Colbert's talents. ( http://www.fancast.com/tv/The-Colbert-Report/94816/1117259302/The-Colbert- Report-5709/videos http://0rz.tw/oe2Ec for your convenience http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml? episodeId=226991 http://0rz.tw/O39Hq also for your convenience both videos show the same content, but for some reason, users from Taiwan might not be able to open some of the files from fancast.com ) Because I should not type Chinese here, I will not provide the translation (and the visitors of this board most likely will not need it anyway). But I will point out a few places where the viewers should not miss, and they start at 01:30 and 05:32 (the latter goes on longer but it is definitely worth it). Besides Stephen Colbert, I have never seen another comedian who can hold a straight face and pretend as a supporter of the opposite side, while telling the most hilariously absurd jokes for the entire 30 minutes of his show with almost no slipping or cracking up. Colbert is undoubtedly the master of witty sarcasm, and I can only hope that one day there may be a Taiwanese performer who is as entertaining and ingenious as Stephen Colbert. --

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