Ben Franklin Impressed By Roomba

Hey, look, Ben “Ralph Archbold” Franklin’s going to be on Colbert Report all week, and last night he managed to get a hold of that technological marvel that doesn’t work, the Roomba.

Tonight, one of Colbert Report’s guests is scheduled to be Gov. Ed Rendell. Hopefully he’ll have a hot dog eating contest with Stephen.

Video after the jump.

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Colbert & Nutter (With Bonus Drama!)

Okay, so this photo is way too cool to be real. Apparently GPTMC welcomed Stephen Colbert with a big giant party for him and Jason Smith took this photo.

Yes, Mayor Nutter is the both the nerdiest guy ever and a rock star, and I’m still not totally sure how that works. But if it leads to photos like this, who cares! And, wait, there’s more: This kinda way long stalking Stephen Colbert piece — the Dan Gross one is good — has some blogdrama at the end, where someone accuses CP of copying off this Phillyist article that’s trying to get on TV or something. Aw, only 18 Diggs.

Mayor Nutter On Colbert Report

Last night was the first of four nights of Colbert Report in Philadelphia this week, and Stephen’s first local guest was none other than Mayor Michael Nutter. (He also had on Ralph Archbold, aka The Real Ben Franklin.)

The interview segment is pretty funny, especially at the start, and the mayor gets at least one good one-liners in there. (Did you know he has dry wit? Every single article about him now mentions it!) Tomorrow The Roots are on. Sweet. Redlasso video clip is on the permalink page.

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Colbert To Appear On DeBella

I just got this press release forwarded to me from two different people. The comments, respectively, were:

• Horrifying.
• Ugh.

Indeed.

Colbert Report In Philadelphia

Yes, yes, by now you’ve heard that Colbert Report is coming to Philadelphia right before the big primary on April 22 and you’re probably already attempting to get tickets. Et cetera.

Also Reported: 100 Percent Of Public Stupid

Bush apparently beats aliens by around 16 points. I can’t believe people are so freaking stupid. Obviously Bush being a good president is much less likely to be true than aliens living on earth.

More people do claim to have seen UFOs than are planning on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic primary — at least in New Hampshire, the most important of all states — though. Also beating Kucinich? Stephen Colbert.

‘Philadelphia Gay News’ Lets Us Know The Drawbacks Of Playing A Character With The Same Name As You

Stephen Colbert (character) [Wikipedia]
Does Stephen Colbert set off your gaydar? [Philadelphia Gay News]

Leftovers: Phillies Out-Do ‘Em All, Again!

• If you’re a sports fan, and your head is spinning from an Eagles loss and a big Flyers shake-up, here’s something better: The Phillies signed Jamie Moyer to a two-year, $10.5 million extension today, which means the Fightins have him locked up for his 44th and 45th years on Earth. (Woulda really liked him for just one.) But wait… ooh! Maybe in the second year he can be player/manager! [Inquirer]

• Oh, and today is the 13th anniversary of Joe Carter’s walkoff home run. Goodie. [Wikipedia]

• Stephen Colbert’s “Sikh friend” a while back was none other than Penn’s junior class president! And now he’s hit YouTube, so the fame and movie deals should follow. [Daily Pennsylvanian]

• Woulda linked this Friday had I known it wasn’t behind the WSJ paywall, but here goes: The, uh, Wall Street Journal had a nice Philly-bashing piece on Friday. Letters from, say, Center City District and some other angry Philadelphians to follow soon. [Wall Street Journal]

• “That whole if you don’t have insurance, we’ll cover you thing? Yeah, you ain’t gettin’ it, needy kids. We legislators need a few new cars.” [KYW 1060]

• Men think like this, women think like that! [Inquirer]

Quickies: ‘S/He’ Potato Chips Coming Next Year

• Herr’s will be introducing “His” potato chips in honor of Father’s Day. It’s just going to be the regular flavor, but if it’s successful, they’re going to keep it on the market. I have no idea who the market is for “His” potato chips, once the novelty wears off. Straight women and gay men? Misogynists? Potato chip completists? [KYW 1060]

• YouTube and iFilm have been forced to pull the Colbert clip at the White House Correspondents Dinner after CSpan asked them to. (Yes, apparently CSpan’s stuff is copyrighted.) The full clip, though, on Google Video.) Of course, you can’t embed it on a webpage, because letting people do what they want with content makes sense. Sigh. [AP/Yahoo!]

• A junior at Upper Darby HS was suspended after someone discovered mean postings about a teacher he wrote on Myspace. The ACLU intervened and the suspension was, uh, suspended, but he’s totally going to get an F from that teacher. [KYW 1060]

• The New Jersey primaries! They happened yesterday! That’s about it! [Inky]

The ‘Overwritten Lead Of The Moment’ Competition Is Over

Every once in a while I single out some local (or national) story as the Overwritten Lead of the Moment, which is sort of a nice way of saying “the bad lead of the moment.” (Well, no. Going back through the archives, some of them are more weird or silly than bad. But most of them are bad.)

Now, I’m not one to shy away from a bad lead. Hell, I’ve written a ton of them myself. (I am a little embarassed at this one, though. But it was like the sixth story I ever wrote.) And I love overwritten leads. They turn otherwise perfectly normal stories into unintentionally funny goldmines.

Unfortunately, the contest is now over. We will never see a lead as good as this again, by Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen:

First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy. This is well known in certain circles, which is why, even back in elementary school, I was sometimes asked by the teacher to “say something funny” — as if the deed could be done on demand. This, anyway, is my standing for stating that Stephen Colbert was not funny at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

I had a long-ish conversation the other day about the whole Stephen Colbert-at-the-White House Correspondents dinner, and my feeling was that he was a liberal comedian hired to make jokes, and he did such at the dinner. I thought it was pretty funny (not gut-busting funny, but not bad) and I thought it was weird that some media outlets didn’t mention it in their recaps of the event (not conspiracy weird, more baffling I guess) and I thought it was a great PR move for him. And I also thought that last sentence might’ve been a run-on.

I don’t really think it was “courageous” per se, but I suppose it had some balls, and the whole “Thank You Stephen Colbert” petition thing is a little weird, yadda yadda yadda.

But now, his speech is directly responsible for this lead, and I must say: Stephen Colbert is an American hero. Thank you, Stephen Colbert.

So not Funny [Washington Post via Wonkette]
Koch paces W. X-C at districts [Daily Pennsylvanian]
Archives: Overwritten Lead of the Moment