EPISODE NUMBER: 10065 (February 19, 2014)
GUESTS: Alexander Payne
SPECIAL GUEST: Scott Thompson (Buddy Cole)
SEGMENTS: Intro - 2/19/14 | Victory and Vigilance at the Sochi Games | Sport Report - From Russia With Love (But No Gay Stuff) - Buddy Cole in Sochi | Smile File - Al Qaeda Bomb Blunder | Alexander Payne | Sign Off - Goodnight
SUIT REPORT: Dark Pin stripped Suit | White Shirt | Grey Patterned Tie
VIDEOS: Tuesday, February 19, 2014
I am a huge fan of Alexander Payne. Not only are his movies funny and deeply touching, they contain themes encapsulated in seemingly ordinary moments that will keep you thinking about them long after the credits are over. I haven’t seen Nebraska yet, but am looking forward to it, and even more so after this great interview. Judging by their warm exchange, the interview seemed to confirm something I have always thought: that Stephen’s and Payne’s senses of humor are fairly similar. I wish Stephen would be in one of Payne’s movies. I wish I wish I wish.
And, we got another installment of Buddy Cole’s coverage at the Sashay Olympics! I went through old Kids in the Hall clips on Youtube and rediscovered that Buddy Cole was a staple to that show, a very established character in Scott Thompson’s repertoire. It makes sense that his character was welcomed on the Report, because Scott is just as expert playing Buddy Cole as Stephen is at playing, well, Stephen Colbert. Have we ever seen a correspondent split-screened on TCR before like that? And Stephen almost let him cue Jimmy! This is amazing progress and a true relenting on Stephen’s part of a little bit of the show’s control to another performer, which is in and of itself a big deal.
I felt a little bit for producers Liz Levin and Barry Julien (that’s who I spotted from the Sochi footage); I am sure they were sweating buckets trying to deal with the Russian police. Scott, meanwhile, could care less, sitting on the park bench. It is truly sad that there is an air tight seal on free speech in Russia, particularly now with friends of the show Pussy Riot being briefly arrested once again for their relatively tame acts of protest.
What did you think of the ep? Sashay it out in the comments.
Intro
- Tonight! The latest from Sochi. Due to warm weather, the bobsled is now the log flume.
- [Baghdaddy issues] Then, surprising news from Iraq. In that I am surprised anyone is reporting news from Iraq.
- And my guest, Alexander Payne directed the film Nebraska, which was shot in black and white. Since it was filmed in Nebraska, I am guessing mostly white.
- Georgia is offering a license plate with the Confederate flag. I certainly hope state troopers don’t use it to racially profile white people.
Victory and Vigilance at the Sochi Games
- Of course, this network does not have the right to rebroadcast any of NBC’s coverage. If I could, I would show you footage of Bob Costas and the horrible lovecraftian eye nightmare that forced him off the air last week. But I can’t. So instead I’ll show a photo of an actual snowman my kids made last week, where they used blackberries for the eyes and one of the blackberries burst:
Sport Report - From Russia With Love (But No Gay Stuff) - Buddy Cole in Sochi
Stephen: Now Buddy, the mayor of Sochi says that there are no gays in the city. Can you confirm that?
Buddy Cole: I can confirm that there’s at least one.
Stephen: That’s my bloodhound. Smoke ‘em out, my friend! Have you met with any Olympians?
Buddy: Actually, last night at a cafe I met one of those guys, you know the ones who ski and shoot.
Stephen: A biathlete?
Buddy: He is now.
Buddy Cole narrates: Finally, I found something flaming, and got as up close and personal as NBC would allow. “Welcome to the Olympic Games!”
Buddy Cole: The mayor of Sochi says that there are no gays in Sochi. Where am I going to find the gays?
Russian Man: Next question.
Buddy: So there’s no gay propaganda threat in Sochi.
Man: No, no.
Buddy: Have you heard about these protest zones? Where would I find these protest zones?
Man: What is a protest zone?
Buddy: Protests are where people go “No, no I don’t like that, down with something I don’t understand.”
Buddy Cole” “So I finished my cocktail and said hello to the policeman, these very nice men in leather jackets, seen here on this exclusive Nervous Producer Cam.”
Buddy Cole (Scott Thompson) keeps his fur rather unruffled as the producers deal with the Russian authorities.
- Buddy Cole: Journalist and man of principle, I took a courageous stand and got the hell out of there. Dasvidaniya!
Smile File - Al Qaeda Bomb Blunder
- Hey! (laughing in character) “Those who can, do, those who can’t, teach, and those who can’t teach accidentally blow themselves up.”
“[Iraqi police] arrested 22 survivors, including mastermind Wile E. Al-Coyote.”
- Folks, it’s stories like this that make you not ask “why do bad things happen to bad people?” God often works in mysterious ways, but sometimes He makes some really obvious choices.
Interview - Alexander Payne
Stephen: You’re from Nebraska, right?
Alexander: Still live there.
Stephen: You are allowed to leave Nebraska. You don’t have one of those tracking anklets on or anything, you’re not wanted. Why do you keep shooting in what Hollywood and the East Coast Elites would call a flyover state?
Alexander: I’m from there, so I just like being there. [..] Because I am from a more far-flung, unusual place -
Stephen: It’s exotic, it’s exotic. I’m all for it. That’s the heartland, that’s real America. Not the west coast, not the east coast, south of Chicago, north of Miami, everywhere in there- it’s 1983 Reagan is just taking, you know, Reagan is peaking!
Alexander: It’s a pretty Republican state, that’s true, but free thinking as well.
Stephen: (after showing clip) Is everyone in Nebraska that honest?
Alexander: One of the reasons I like living is there is that the people are fairly plain spoken.
Stephen: You’ve done several road trips, do you actually like driving?
Alexander: I do. I do. […] I don’t think it’s proper to think of this country as a 5 or 6 hour fly over, I think if you drive it or also take the train…it’s fun to see things.
Stephen: Ok, but, you know, that takes a long time, and we’re all going to die at some point. And it’s not about the journey, it’s the destination.
Stephen: Are you happy…(trails off, gives up) Because a lot of people in your films, they’re not happy, but you don’t seem like a sad guy. Are you happy?
Alexander: Yeah, I think so, I think I am basically a happy, positive person. You think that there is a certain unhappiness in the films, but I’m making comedies.
Stephen: Oh no, you can be sad and funny. Are you one of those sad clowns? Because I heard some comedians are actually sad inside.
Alexander: Really? Yeah. Hmmm.