Until now, Stephen Colbert's amazing and ingenious use of the net and the growing participant culture to promote his show has been a beautiful thing to watch. But it was never beyond my imagination. If I were in his place I'd be doing the same thing. But I just watched the intro to the Colbert Report episode 08.21.2006 and his intro took it over the edge for me. By itself maybe it was just another funny/clever comment, but when added to the sum total of Wikipedia jokes, Green screen antics and his other 'buzz' generating stunts, you get a very beautiful picture.
His intro comment was "Could being a Neilson family kill you? Watch the entire show to find out".
Genius. Subtle, relevant, clever and could even have a direct affect on his rating for the night.
I love that guy so much - in a straight, non-sexual way of course.
He is climbing fast to join my other masters:
- Joss Whedon
- Ronald D. Moore
- Jon Stewart
- And all the people leading the charge with Current.TV (including Al Gore)
J.J. Abrams might be on the list soon, depending on what he does with Star Trek - but right now he is a little too disconnected for my taste.
I think Colbert, however, should be the new member of the 'Oh my god, you're changing traditional media by being a legend' club.
In Episode 08.23.2006 he even goes on to talk about the fragmentation of media experiences due to the explosion of choices going so far as to bring a band on that uses YouTube as its primary promotion vehicle. I think he understands the principal of 'Audiences of One' better than most traditional media personalities.