I Am America
(And So Can You!)
Stephen Colbert
Reviewed by Suzanne Brockmann
I'm a T-shirt-owning member of Colbert Nation. Let me make that clear, right up front. My Tivo is religiously set to record Comedy Central's The Colbert Report (pronounced Col-bear Re-pour, for those of you who have yet to see the light), every Monday through Thursday, without fail. No two ways about it -- Stephen Colbert makes my heart swell with patriotic pride.
It wasn't always that way. But on April 29, 2006, I became Stephen Colbert's fan-for-life when he stepped up to the microphone at the yearly White House Correspondents' Dinner. It was then and there, with George W. Bush as part of his literally captive audience, Colbert did what few have had the chance to do over the past seven years -- he spoke not just truthiness but truth to power.
The speech was broadcast, live, on CSPAN. Bush sat just to the right of Colbert's podium, and the camera often included his mostly impassive but sometimes disapproving face as a loud, clear, dissenting voice was given the opportunity to hold the American leader's ear for a solid twenty minutes.
Colbert presented his dissent as humor. He spoke as the character he plays on The Colbert Report -- a pompous, preening, self-involved, ludicrously opinionated, fact-ignoring right-wing-pundit, who often includes in his talk show interviews the absurdly funny question: "George W. Bush. Great president or greatest president?"
But with that audience made up of members of Congress, of Justices of the Supreme Court, of leaders of our great military, and, of course, members of the press corps, few laughed openly at Stephen's razor-sharp satirical statements. It was funny -- I challenge you to read his speech without laughing aloud, but it's definitely an "omigod" kind of funny. In fact, CSPAN's reaction shots showed people sitting with their hands over their mouths.
I myself sat at home, with my heart in my throat, on the edge of my seat, as Colbert delivered what was, in my opinion, a stirring, powerful and hugely courageous address on the trampled state of our union.
Colbert's complete speech is included as an Appendix to I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!). It alone, in my opinion, is worth the book's $26.99 price tag.
But this book is a booklovers dream come true. It's hysterically gorgeous, with red-edged pages and a "first edition" ribbon to mark one's place. Inside the gorgeous cover (the inside flap copy reads: "CONGRATULATIONS -- just by opening the cover of this book you became 25% more patriotic.") are dozens of extremely funny essays on American life, all delivered through the "Stephen Colbert" character. With plenty of pictures and diagrams and even comments a la "The Word" written in the margins, it's a thoroughly entertaining read -- and a satirical stab at the extremely serious problems facing our country today.
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About the Reviewer:
Set in Boston, Suzanne Brockmann's most recent novel, ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, features the holiday-season wedding of gay FBI agent Jules Cassidy and Hollywood hearthrob Robin Chadwick, two popular characters in her on-going Troubleshooters series. She is donating all of her earnings from this book to MassEquality, an organization dedicated to preserving same-sex marriage rights in her enlightened home state of Massachusetts. Visit her website at www.SuzanneBrockmann.com.
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