ENGLISH LIT 344 / COMEDY & SATIRE

Who's Who in American Comedy

Steven Colbert

Colbert originally planned to be an actor, but became involved in the Second City's improvisational theatre where he became an understudy for Steve Carell. He wrote and performed on the Dana Carvey Show and subsequenly collaborated on the television series Strangers with Candy. He then began work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show which led to his current 'gig' The Colbert Report.

Here he is conducting an interview with Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who is well-known for his views on atheism, evolution, creationism, intelligent design, and religion. (Note how Colbert plays 'devil's desciple' thorugh his pardoy of the Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, style of interviewing.)

[For more details on these people, check their listing in Wikipedia, but note--this is one of the rare times I can accept the use of Wikipedia as a source. I have found that most of the information there about these people is reliable.]