Colbert speech # 1 at Apple iTune store! People paying to hear the truth

[Democrat 4 Ever]

An audio version of the roast of President Bush by Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central rose to the rank of No. 1 album at Apple's iTunes store on Saturday, three weeks to the night of the White House Correspondents Dinner. Also in the Top 10 were new releases by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and Paul Simon.


The audio version of Mr. Colbert's speech was delivered to iTunes through Audible.com, a company that provides audio content for downloading, including books, radio shows and shorter performances, and costs $1.95 to download. Neither C-Span nor Audible was able to say how many downloads there had been. Mr. Colbert was traveling and could not be reached.


By many accounts, Mr. Colbert's performance landed with a thud among his influential audience of journalists and politicians, who were more overtly enthusiastic about a comedy routine involving Mr. Bush and a professional George W. Bush impersonator. But the broadcast of the speech is enjoying a lucrative afterlife online, an unusual development for its owner, the nonprofit cable network C-Span.


Earlier this month, C-Span ordered more than 40 versions of the speech removed from the popular video sharing sites youtube.com and ifilm. C-Span said it ordered the clips removed to assert its copyright on recordings of the performance, and shortly thereafter allowed Google Video to stream it free. In the two weeks since, it has been at or near the top of Google's most popular videos. Over the weekend, it was still No. 4 there.

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/after-dinner-speech-remains-a-favorite/20060522072809990001

[boobooday]

1. Someday, when we get our democracy back

I want to see a bust of Stephen Colbert in Washington D.C. -- Jon Stewart too . . . maybe some others.

A monument to how many times American comedians have carried the torch of democracy and free speech. A monument to their courage, and their service, and their contribution.

Ridiculing the powerful is perhaps the most important duty of every citizen.

:patriot:

[rocktivity]

2. TORO TURD!

By many accounts, Mr. Colbert's performance landed with a thud among his influential audience of journalists and politicians...

By the many accounts of who--the influential journalists and politicians?

:headbang:
rocknation

[supernova]

3. I'm thinking that was his plan all along...

Smart guy. :-)

Not necessarily iTunes, just that his prime audience weren't the people in the room that night.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

4. Read the entire article. It goes on to say that while the attendees

didn't "appreciate" the humor the speech is still one of the most listened to on the "internets" and is still ranked #4 on google (#1 for iTunes where people are paying $1.95 for the privilege of downloading) as most listened to - three weeks after the event.

Article does a nice job of poking a sharp stick in the eye of the MSM over the whole event. I didn't see that coming from AOL.

[Jade Fox]

5. Right after Colbert's performance.....

I thought, "This guy will go down in history." Then there was the media black out of the story, and then the "He wasn't funny" judgment from those he was skewering.

But now I can see why that was my first response. Colbert was doing something that people clearly are eager to see: calling Bush and his solipsist press buds idiots to their faces.

[rocktivity]

6. I spent most of that historic Sunday trying to download the video

which required me to find Macintosh-compatable software. But damn, it was worth it!

:headbang:
rocknation