This One Is Too Fun To Let Yourself Get Mad About It

Sometimes fun things get swallowed up by the real world before they have a chance to breathe. That always bums me out. I feel like it’s happening more frequently now, which could be for any number of reasons ranging from “toxic social media discourse breaking contain” to “I’m getting older and I notice it.” It happened a little bit this week, with Stephen Colbert hosting a public access show in Michigan. I’m going to try to help us course-correct a bit. This one is too good to let downers hijack the conversation.

First, I’m going to post the link to the whole thing right here. You have to promise me you’ll watch it all. That’s the whole point of this. I’m trusting you. We’ll get into the weeds in a second.

Okay, the backstory, via bullet point:

• Stephen Colbert appeared on a Michigan public access show called “Only In Monroe” on Friday night, 24 hours after he ended his run on The Late Show
• It was actually the second time he’s guest-hosted the show, with the first coming in 2015, the last time he was between gigs
• Everyone was really happy about it for maybe 24 hours
• CBS started issuing copyright strikes against non-authorized YouTube copies of the show, which some people (not unfairly, given... everything that led us here) assumed was like a “THEY’RE TRYING TO SILENCE HIM” thing when it was actually more of a “CBS was promoting the show on its own YouTube accounts and Colbert was hosting it on his own personal new account and the CBS copyright drones were flinging out boilerplate takedown notices like business as usual as if it was a regular property even though some common sense should have told them thing required a lighter touch” deal you run into when a big dumb corporation can't adapt to a special circumstance
• It was kind of like… you know how you’ll go to some big chain restaurant with a name like JD Puddknockers and see onion rings as an appetizer but not a side so you’ll ask your server if you can have the onion rings with your burger instead of fries and the poor kid will get this panicked look in his eye because there’s no button on the corporate-approved new AI-powered ordering system to do that and he’ll start sweating like you just asked him to do algebra on the spot even though you both know they have French fries and onion rings back there and it shouldn’t be this hard to put one on the plate instead of the other?
• This is why you should go to diners, by the way, because if you make that request in one of those, a waitress will just say “sure thing, darling” and take it back to the kitchen
• Dammit, I lost my train of thought because of onion rings again
• Oh right, Colbert
• People got super mad
• It became a whole thing

Anyway, if you Google “colbert public access” now, instead of getting a bunch of results about how cool it was and clips of cool stuff happening, you get a dozen links to news stories about “the controversy,” which stinks because, again, it was just a blast of an hour of television — creative, chaotic, full of charming little stuff spliced together with celebrities popping up for bits. Jack White was in charge of the music and was just sitting there making dry little jokes. There’s a run of weed-related puns about Tom Hanks movies that get funnier the longer it goes on. Again, a really good time.

My favorite part of the show starts around the 10-minute mark. Colbert invites on the show’s regular hosts, Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Refko Wilson, to be his guests for a while, as he did the first time he hosted. It’s a hoot, man. The three of them do shots and cackle a bit and there’s an extended run where they discuss one of the regular hosts’ battle with a scary health thing while sucking helium balloons. Here, look.

See what I mean? There‘s just so much good stuff going on in there. I suspect a lot of people just read some headlines and thought “oh, that looks cool” and then got sucked up into the stupid news cycle and got mad about it all without ever enjoying the fun thing they were allegedly mad about. You don't have to live like that! There’s plenty of real stuff to be mad about that isn’t any fun at all, anywhere. Don’t go ruining the good stuff for yourself, too.

Think about it this way...

All that time you were shouting, you could have been listening to Stephen Colbert sing “Fell In Love With A Girl“ by The White Stripes with his voice all chipmunked-out by a rip of helium straight from the tank.

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STUFF I CLICKED ON

— linked to this on Friday but worth linking again: Dumpster Episode anniversary tribute by Liz Shannon Miller

— Mike Ryan interviewed Paul Rudd

— a bunch of smart people wrote about TV moments that revealed something true about America

— I’m digging Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed so far so, yes, I will read about Tatiana Maslany

— Armando Iannucci, creator of Veep, is writing the next Paddington movie, and now all I can think about is Paddington ripping off dozens of hilariously profane insults 

— Pope Leo is fed up

— Quinta Brunson is playing Betty Boop

— David Fincher’s Cliff Booth movie with Brad Pitt is getting a two-week run in theaters

— beard and mustache competition

— I love the Scandinavian teen who keeps stealing buses

— “6-Year-Old Boy Finds 1,300-Year-Old Sword During School Trip”

— “The Park Slope Bride Who Turned Her Block Into a Wedding Venue for $25”

— “Former boss of collapsed investment firm jailed for illegally selling hot tub”

— “Diners are staying home, so this restaurant lets patrons pay what they want”

— Dan Soder doing Macho Man and Dave Chappelle impressions while reading Charles Manson quotes had me wheezing

Okay, that's it for this week. Please subscribe and share and suck a little helium if you want.