TV Show Analysis #3

The Colbert Report
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Amped Up for Michelle Obama

The title of the excerpt from “The Colbert Report” is “Amped Up for Michelle Obama.” In this excerpt, Stephen Colbert, the host, tells the audience that his guest for the night is first lady Michelle Obama. He then makes a joke about the secret service. To demonstrate how the secret service is there, but is unseen, Stephen Colbert puts his hand in his suit coat as if he were going to take out a weapon and all of a sudden, lasers from sniper guns are all over his body. Colbert tells the audience that Mrs. Obama is in the studio to discuss the one year anniversary of “Joining Forces” which is a program that supports military families. She launched this program with Joe Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden. He then jokes about how child obesity is solved since the military families are the focus of Mrs. Obama. He then says, “Kids, go to town on that Oreo pizza, it’s good for you!” The manner of the satire used in this show is that Colbert is not really mocking Mrs. Obama’s person, but rather mocking the many things that she dedicates her time to. It is obvious that child obesity is still a problem in this country, but he is making fun when he says it is over. The show is having Mrs. Obama speak about the program because it is the one year anniversary of the launching of the program which seems to be a success. The ideological perspective of this excerpt is probably leaning more towards the Democratic/liberal side because President and Mrs. Obama are both Democrats. This relates to current political event because the one year anniversary has just occurred and since it deals with the military, it is in the news. The military is always current whether it is about wars going on or nice stories about parents returning to their children and vice versa. This relates to class because this seems to be some sort of tactic and game plan by the Obamas to create ammunition for his upcoming race for president. Helping military families is always looked at by the public as a good thing and thus, the people will base Obama’s character on this fact. In class, we have discussed many ways that politicians try to obtain the public’s votes and support and by having Mrs. Obama discuss something like this would definitely help Obama with getting more support from the people. The ironic part of this excerpt would have to be Colbert telling the kids to enjoy the Oreo pizza because child obesity is still a problem in this country. It is also ironic because he was saying that since child obesity is solved, children can “pig out” so to speak on junk food. The show was able to portray their point in a funny manner and was able to provide the audience with entertainment and knowledge.