Humor & Speeches

There are numerous important events in a president’s career. Most people believe the president’s inauguration is the most entertaining portion of a president’s career. But those people aren’t political junkies. Junkies (like me)  know that the White House Correspondent’s dinner is highly vital in a presidency. Some of you may be wondering what this “White House  Correspondent’s dinner” is. For your information, this is an annual event where the president is roasted by a professional comedian. No, these comedians don’t roast the president like marshmallows (otherwise the secret service would be mad). Instead, comedians poke fun at idiotic actions the president has taken and embarrass  various members of the audience.  This is very simple for amazing comedians like Stephen Colbert. It becomes especially simple when the gracious President George W. Bush gives you so much material to make fun of.  

Stephen Colbert’s purpose is to amuse the audience, while making several jokes about controversial matters in the Bush presidency. He is able to make that into humor by making side comments. For example, before he starts he states that “someone from NSA will be over with a cocktail” if the audience speaks to the table numbers. Instead of blatantly saying that one BIG mistake in the Bush administration was the NSA wiretaps, he has slyly incorporated this into his speech.  Because his audience is well versed in politics (it is a white house correspondent’s dinner), he uses politics for much of his material.

Logical fallacies also play a key part in Stephen Colbert’s speech.  His audience is an intellectual group. Thus, they are able to comprehend when he is using a logical fallacy, even if they can’t put a name on the fallacy. With this technique he sounds humorous. For instance, Colbert discusses his knowledge about the gut. He claims to know a certain fact about the gut. But then he acknowledges that is wrong, which increases his credibility. However, Colbert then states this fact is true because his gut has told him so.  By proving that his gut is right because his gut said so, is an appeal to a false authority.

Lastly, Colbert has made his speech humorous through the delivery of these comical attacks. Despite the fact that the audience knows Colbert is a liberal, he talks as though he is a conservative making his speech ironic and funny.  He is able to maintain eye contact and look at the whole room with a straight face.  Even though he clearly does not believe what he is saying, Colbert takes on the conservative persona and delivers a speech as real politicians do (his stance at the podium). By using meaningful hand gestures and exaggerating his tone inflections, he keeps the audience’s attention. Colbert also takes pauses after certain ideas in order for the audience to laugh and continue to focus on the next joke.  

With these techniques, Colbert is effectively able to roast Bush.