acter and The Colbert Report are generally parodies of Bill O'Reilly and The O'Reilly Factor respec

nine words that captured the zeitgeist of the year, and in January 2006, the American Dialect Society announced that truthiness was selected as its 2005 Word of the Year.[35]
Colbert has made frequent reference to the spread of the word truthiness since he introduced it, while carping on media accounts of truthiness that neglect to identify him as its source.[36] Truthiness has since been discussed, sometimes repeatedly, in The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Editor & Publisher, Salon, The Huffington Post, ABC NewsRadio's Word Watch with Kel Richards and Chicago Reader, and on ABC's Nightline, CBS's 60 Minutes, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. In January 2006, truthiness was featured as a Word of the Week by the website of the Macmillan English Dictionary.[37] In December of the same year, Merriam-Webster announced that "truthiness" had been voted by visitors to its website to be the No. 1 Word of the Year for 2006.[38] On August 27, 2006, the Global Language Monitor named truthiness and wikiality—both coined by Colbert on The Colbert Report—as the top television buzzwords of 2006.[39][dead link][40] It was used in The New York Times crossword puzzle in June 2008,[41] which Colbert himself mentioned during an exchange with Jon Stewart on an episode of The Daily Show.[42]
Relation to The O'Reilly Factor[edit]
The Stephen Colbert character and The Colbert Report are generally parodies of Bill O'Reilly and The O'Reilly Factor respectively. New episodes of The Colbert Report are scheduled in the same time slot as rebroadcasts of The O'Reilly Factor, while Colbert rebroadcasts are scheduled during new O'Reilly shows.[43] When O'Reilly appeared on The Daily Show before the second episode of The Colbert Report aired, he commented, "Before we get started, somebody told me walking in here, you got some French guy on after you making fun of me?", and made several references in the following interview to 'the French Guy'.[44][45] In a subsequent Newsweek interview, O'Reilly said that he "feels it's a compliment" to have Colbert parody him because Colbert "isn't mean-spirited" and does not "use [his] platform to injure people". Later, Colbert replied on-air, "I like you too. In fact, if it wasn't for you, this show wouldn't exist."[4]
The Colbert Report features a commentary segment called "The Wørd", similar to O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo". Like the Memo, The Wørd features the commentator asserting a political point of view with a text screen graphic next to him. However, while O'Reilly's text serves to emphasize his points, Colbert's text generally serves as an ironic counterpoint to his character's position. Other segments that can be juxtaposed with The O'Reilly Factor are The Colbert Report's Inbox (compared to O'Reilly's "Factor Mail"); Stephen Colbert's Balls for Kidz which, unlike The Factor's "Children at Risk", tends to portray messages and lessons typically considered unsuitable for children; and That's The Craziest F#?king Thing I've Ever Heard, which is comparable to O'Reilly's "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day". Additionally, Colbert parodies O'Reilly's references to his program as the "no spin zone" by inviting viewers of his show to "take a spin in the no fact zone".[46] O'Reilly and Colbert each appeared as a guest on the other's show on January 18, 2007. As a souvenir, Colbert "stole" a microwave from the O'Reilly green room—in fact, he informed O'Reilly of his intention to take the microwave beforehand—later displaying it on his own show. He later sent over a replacement microwave, emblazoned with The Colbert Report logo.
Green Screen Challenge[edit]
On the August 10, 2006 episode, Stephen Colbert was shown wielding a lightsaber in front of a green screen, a parody of the Star Wars Kid internet phenomenon.[47] This was done as part of the "Better Know A District" segment, when Colbert visited California's 6th congressional district, the home of Sta

Categories: