Today was a seminal event in the history of television.  A seismic moment in broadcasting….It was the premiere of the new Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

…Ok, it probably wasn’t quite that big a deal, but for Colbert’s legion fans, it has been a long, chilly nine months.  And tonight’s show did not disappoint, for those night owls who were up to watch.

The radical conservative blowhard that he played on his Comedy Central show was somewhat afraid of books (the fictitious Stephen Colbert claimed they had ‘too many facts’ in them), despite the fact that he authored three during his tenure on Comedy Central, two of which were parodies of political memoirs: I Am America (And So Can You!), and America Again: re-becoming the greatness we never weren’t.  Both books are pitch-perfect satires of American political memoirs and commentaries that are rendered even better by Colbert’s performances in the audiobook recordings
of both works.  He also authored a children’s book, entitled I Am a Pole (and so can you!), the result of an interview with the beloved and delightfully curmudgeonly Maurice Sendak, who was one of the few guests capable of keeping up with Colbert, and giving him a run for his intellectual money–and, who stated, unequivocally, that his favorite book was Moby Dick, in case you needed another reason to try this classic.

 However, the truth of the matter is that Stephen Colbert is a librarian’s comedian.   His humor is a treasure trove of literary references, allusions, and homages.  Best of all, Colbert wears his bookish-ness on his sleeve.  He took on Amazon when the company tried to wage war against Hachette (Colbert’s publisher), and helped debut author Edan Lepucki’s book California onto the New York Times Bestsellers List when he urged viewers to buy the book via independent bookstores rather than Amazon.  He speaks Elvish, for goodness sake!  If you don’t believe me, check out this clip from 2008 (it’s a bit of a lengthy interview, but worth every single second…fast forward to about 8:18 for the actual High Elvish).  And, as those who have seen this interview will notice, Colbert can knit-pick like a true devotee.  The result was his now-famous cameo in The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, which Peter Jackson arranged after realizing the truth depth of Colbert’s Tolkein adoration.

But even apart from the Tolkein-ness of it all, Colbert has worked plenty of other literary references into his work.  His ‘book club’ featured a whole episode on The Great Gatsby (which may possibly have violated some copyright laws, but was brilliant nevertheless); he interviewed an enormous number of authors and literature professors during his time on Comedy Central (you can check out a comprehensive list of them here).  My personal favorite was his analysis of the short story vs. the novel with George Saunders, author of the short story collection Tenth of December, which you can watch here.  When asked why he wrote short stories, Saunders says “Let’s say you were madly in love with somebody, and your mission was to tell the person that you love them.  Here’s two scenarios, you can take a weeklong train trip with the person…that’s a novel….Second scenario: he’s stepping on the train, and you have three minutes…”, to which Colbert begs “Why can’t I get on the train?!…Where is she going? Why can’t I go with her?…Does she love me back?!”, quite possibly summing up every moment of readly angst I have ever known.  The beautiful simplicity of this discussion not only sums up why we read, and how we read, and is definitely worth a watch.

Most recently, in a parody of Donald Trump’s candidacy announcement, Colbert slid a passage from Joyce’s Ulysses into the middle of his speech, which aired on the very day on which Ulysses is set (ten points if you can figure it out on the first try).   He made a very brief reference in tonight’s opening show to W.W. Jacobs’ seminal short story “The Monkey’s Paw”.  And on Thursday, his guest will be celebrated author, and library favorite Stephen King.

So we here at the Free For All wanted to take a brief moment and cheer quietly for Stephen Colbert on his successes (we’re in the library, so while our cheers are quiet, our intention is deafening).  And for those of you who aren’t able to stay up until 11:35pm in order to watch the show, here is a recording of Colbert reading Flannery O’Connor’s “The Enduring Chill”, offering O’Connor’s trademark characters, and themes of racial segregation, life-changing moments, and unsettling atmospheric details, along with a rare chance to hear Colbert’s native South Carolina accent, though only briefly.  Though this recording was made some time ago from a live program sponsored by the National Book Award, it is still a treat to hear, and I hope it brings a smile to your Wednesday.