The Cobert Report

Howard Kurtz in WaPo:

As one of the premier fake journalists on the planet, Stephen Colbert is struck by the reaction of those he mercilessly ridicules.

"The most common thing that real reporters say to me is, 'I wish I could say what you say.' What I don't understand is, why can't they say what I say, even in their own way? . . . Does that mean they want to be able to name certain bald contradictions or hypocrisies that politicians have?"

What Colbert does, on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," is use the raised eyebrow, the deadpan delivery, the self-important smirk to mock the vanity of know-it-all correspondents. And the country is about to get a supersized helping as "The Colbert Report" debuts next Monday, following Jon Stewart's bogus newscast.

Colbert, 41, an old Second City improv player, describes his character this way: "A well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot" who "doesn't mean to be a jerk." He apologizes because he's used this language before and is serving up "metaphorical sloppy seconds."