Did Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert strengthen his argument about illegal immigrants and immigration reform by testifying before Congress in his comedic character? Or did he undermine it and insult Congress?
The debate rages on with most outrage coming from conservatives.
Colbert testified in his Bill O’Reilly parody persona, saying things such as: “I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, sliced by a Guatemalan . . . and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.”
Colbert did break character once to answer a question by Rep. Judy Chu. His response was heartfelt and thought provoking. But then it was back to his shtick…
What if politicians extensively used comedy to try and make points? For instance, an Oval Office speech by President Barack OObama might go like this:
GO HERE to read the rest including whether it was appropriate or not.
UPDATE: A different view from John Avlon.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.