Enough with the Stephen Colbert Worship

Is anyone else feeling ready for some serious Stephen Colbert backlash?

Yes, he's funny. But he's not so funny that I want to see him hamming it up on Meet the Press, taking over Maureen Dowd's column and popping up on The Huffington Post every time he eats a sandwich. He's not so funny that I want to read an exhaustive, semi-serious analysis of the strategy for his spoof presidential campaign by The Atlantic's Joshua Green, for god's sake.

Bloggers and liberal journalists in general love Colbert because he makes their points for them, often very effectively. But their love is a siren song, luring him toward the rocks of earnestness. Comedy and political advocacy are antithetical. There's a reason the audience was so silent during Colbert's now-legendary speech at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. It was great performance art, watching him tell off the president and the press corps alike to their faces, but as a stand-up routine it was a B-minus effort.

(For a more recent example, check out this embarrassing clip of Colbert grubbing favor with the Netroots by sucking up to Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos.)

Remember when Jon Stewart became utterly inescapable, during the 2004 election? And remember how he started to forget a little that his job is to make us laugh and not to flatter our political biases by indulging his own? Remember how it culminated in that famous Crossfire segment, which was actually great television but a near-"jump the shark" moment for a comedian? If we ever hear the words "Stop hurting America" coming out of Colbert's mouth, let's hope for his sake he's addressing them to bears.

Update, 7:18 p.m.: I guess the answer to my initial question -- is anyone ready for some Colbert backlash? -- is a resounding yes.

Update 2, 7:25 p.m.: Okay, this is weird: I just came face-to-face with Colbert in the flesh on my way home from the office. He was walking into the Time Warner Center for the Quill Awards. I know he's ubiquitous but this is absurd.

Update 3, 10/23, 2:33 p.m.: Believe it or not, even Rachel Sklar -- a member of "the hard-core Colbert community" agrees with me. Mostly.

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