We’ve been busy! Here’s what we added to CU in April:

• What a way to go! We update our bio of Bobby in Character Studies.
• Everybody’s talking about it! How could we resist adding Senator John’s EdWØRDS to Essential Colbert Report Clips?
• New featured word in Philadelphia: Self-evident
• Writer Peter Gwinn’s new baby makes his TV debut, in Better Know a Report Staffer
• English majors! Find out why Stephen has a special place in his heart for them, in the Colbert Codex
• What’s it like to be an intern at the Report? CU starts a collection of articles in Better Know a Report Staffer
• Our Tek Jansen compilation is updated to include the recently aired second episode of the second season
• Report editor Jason Baker’s cameo as a rocker is added to Better Know a Report Staffer
• Enjoy video snippets from the 2006 “An Evening with The Colbert Report” panel in New York, in Musky Treasures
• Stephen adds conversational Dutch to his retinue of Foreign Languages
• Check out our new diploma, y’all—the Bachelor of Truthiness—and, of course, our beautiful new logo at the top of the page!
• We add Rep. Joe Sestak (and an outtake!) to our Better Know a District Compilation, and Sen. Bernie Sanders joins the elite group of senators interviewed by Stephen.
• New audience questions from Chili-delphia! (”What do you think of conservatives who watch your show and think you’re serious about what you say?” Stephen: “It just goes to show that we haven’t gotten rid of all the lead paint in our houses.”)
• Stephen is everywhere! In Musky Treasures (our collection of Stephen’s non-Report appearances), we’ve added video/audio of him at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., at the Food Bank/NYC, on the Today show, on Philadelphia radio, and at SUNY Buffalo
• No foolin’: The April It-Getter's Quiz, which tests your knowledge of March’s episodes, written by Faculty Associate Vigwig…
• And Faculty Associate Lisa continues to update and expand the Extra Credit Reading List, a list of books whose authors have appeared on the show, making it more and more impressive—check it out!

Forgive our delay! We’ve gotten a bit behind in our blogging. Here’s what we added to CU in March:

• As ever, a brand-new It-Getter’s Quiz, along with more updates to the Extra Credit Reading List, a list of books whose authors have appeared on the show
• Stephen chats with his warmup comic, Pete Dominick, in a delightfully free-form discussion on Pete’s radio show
• TDS-era Stephen chats about his early years: wearing a beard and a dashiki, and meeting Amy and Paul at Second City, in Other Interviews & Articles.
• Audio of Stephen on NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, in Musky Treasures
• New featured word(s) in the opening sequence!
• Jennifer 8. Lee and Gregory Rodriguez chat about being a guest, in Behind the Scenes at the Report
• Our list of Colbert Report Special Reports is updated to include Stephen’s look at World Water Day

Enjoy!

Brand-new sections and classes at CU (newest first):

• The Extra Credit Reading List, a list of books whose authors have recently appeared on the show, compiled (and updated regularly) by Faculty Associate Lisa
• Brand-new course, y’all: NAIL 101: Memorable Nailings, created by Faculty Associate Vigwig. D’Souza, Kristol, Buchanan, DeLay–they’re all here!
• The February It-Getter's Quiz, which tests your knowledge of January’s episodes, also written by Vigwig
• Character Data from July to December 2006 — virtually guaranteed to make you laugh out loud! Compiled by NoFactZone staffer and Episode Guide Queen Jennie

And here are some links we’ve recently added in already existing CU courses (newest first):

• We gleefully add Stephen’s Starbucks shower to our entry on his Starbucks fetish and to our glimpses Behind the Scenes at the Report.
• Comedy Central’s very own fanvid of singing, dancing Stephen joins our PE 101: Dancing with Stephen Colbert video seminar–along with Stephen tap-dancing in a diving suit!
• A musical outtake from Stephen’s BKAD with South Carolina’s “Laughin’ Bob” Inglis joins Better Know a District: A Compilation
• Stephen welcomes the writers back by name, and Report alumnus Eric Drysdale (”Bobby”) sings, in Better Know a Report Staffer
• Who doesn’t love Eleanor Holmes Norton? Her latest tussle with Stephen is added to our collection of her Report appearances in Better Know a District: A Compilation
• Stephen’s theological battle with guest Philip Zimbardo joins the Glimpses of ‘Real Stephen’ section of our Character Breaks course
• Jon Stewart’s intervention in the Colbert-Conan feud, and the three-way “Brawl in the Hall,” joins our Jon Stewart Collection!
• Yet another update to our Huckabee/Colbert ‘08 entry!

For more, stay tuned!

New shows! Nourishment at last! Colbert U’s staffers have been thrilled to uncurl themselves at last from their position in fetal balls on their sofas, nourished only by stale Doritos.

We’re introducing a new, ideally labor-saving system of letting you know what’s new at CU. We’ll keep a running account of each month’s additions here in a monthly blog post, and we’ll also list the most recent changes on the home page. January’s additions to CU so far:

• The Sexyback Dance, and Stephen dancing to Prince at the National Portrait Gallery, in our Dancing with Stephen Colbert collection
• Huckabee/Colbert: The History! in our Audience Participation course (thanks to our brilliant new Faculty Associate, Lisa!)
• “Two-Minute Standing Ovation” in our Audience Participation course
• The return of the Un-American News segment, in our Advanced Faux-News Segments course
• KPMG Peat Marwick appearance in Musky Treasures, vault 2
• Stephen wears patriotic gloves from a fan, in Audience Participation
• Evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin talks about preparing to be a guest, in the Guests section of Behind the Scenes at the Report
• An updated entry for “black friend,” in the Colbert Codex
• An updated entry for WristStrong bracelets in Marketing Concepts: The Real World
• An updated entry for “Portrait of Stephen” in the Colbert Codex, noting the triple portrait’s journey to the National Portrait Gallery
• Stephen’s French clam is added to Foreign Languages
• The unforgettable trio of segments honoring Stephen’s dad, the civil rights movement, and the writers’ strike, now in Essential Colbert Report Clips
• Jon Stewart’s intervention in the Colbert-Conan feud joins our Jon Stewart Collection!
• A new BKAD–from South Carolina!

And a few brand-new features at Colbert U, y’all:

• New CU offering: The Extra Credit Reading List, a list of books whose authors have recently appeared on the show!
• A new section of “Better Know a Report Staffer”: Writers’ Strike Corner, a selection of choice strike videos crafted by and/or starring Report writers

January’s quiz tests your knowledge of Stephen’s activities during the strike, as well as points you to some lesser-known (and non-Comedy Central) video clips in our Musky Treasures section. The answer key points you to the video links at Colbert U, in case you’ve missed any!

Here are just a few of the questions:

• Stephen was featured at a teleconferenced “Town Hall Meeting” for which of the “Big Four” accounting firms?
• On December 12, Stephen and his TCR production crew were sighted on the Mall in Washington, D.C. What was he seen carrying?
• Stephen played a 1960s-era, pipe-smoking television sitcom dad in Robert Smigel’s comic video Wheaty. It was a parody of which classic TV show?
• Stephen appeared several times on the improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? In a scene called “Let’s make a date!” what persona did he assume while asking Wayne Brady for a date?

Enjoy!

That’s right, fellow Colbertophiles–it was just one year ago that we gathered around our computers to enjoy our first extended look at out-of-character Stephen. Interviewed by student Chris Corcoran in front of a live audience, Stephen was charming, brilliant, engaging, and of course very funny–for more than 60 blissful minutes. In our humble opinion, the questions asked by both Corcoran and the students in the audience were some of the best ever.

Enjoy the video here, with its wonderful opening montage of classic Report moments, and don’t miss the covertly shot video of Stephen filming a segment for the Report after his “official” appearance is over.

If that just whetted your appetite, visit our Colbert Platinum: Interviews with Stephen department to enjoy more video, audio, and print interviews. None of them are on Comedy Central’s website, so you can get your Stephen fix and still support the writers’ strike.

We’re doing our best to make Colbert U a comforting place to hang out during the writers’ strike. This week, we have a new It-Getter’s Quiz for December from the ever-creative pen of Vigwig, and we’re still adding more material here and there. For instance:

• Stephen plays a dad in “Wheaty the Wheaten Terrier,” an SNL/”TV Funhouse” spoof of Lassie
• MAD Magazine and David Bianculli weigh in (separately) on The Colbert Report, 2007
• Stephen and Ben Karlin at the Just for Laughs festival, 2005
• Stephen on a panel at the HBO Comedy Festival, 2004
• New (old) Stephen on VH1 Random Play and Whose Line Is It Anyway (”Let’s Make a Date”), 1999

And our strike deprivation inspired us to compile a list of particularly superstantial fan recaps of Stephen’s recent appearances–he’s still performing and sharing new insights and wit, just not on our TVs.

• 11/16/07 - New York Times forum, New York
• 10/26/07 - Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
• 10/23/07 - 92nd Street Y, New York
• 10/18/07 - Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC

We’re emerging from our Colbert deprivation chamber to urge all CU devotees to join us in the “Pencils2MediaMoguls” drive, a coordinated campaign across many fan communities to demonstrate our support for the WGA and urge a speedy and fair resolution to the writers’ strike. Here’s some information about it from the writers:

Okay, what is Pencils2MediaMoguls?
We’re asking people to buy pencils online [see link below] to send to the six media moguls who run the six corporate conglomerates.

Why pencils?
A lot of different fan sites were suggesting that people send pencils to networks and studios. United Hollywood and Strike Points met with some of the television showrunners, and together we decided to follow the fans’ lead.

Pencils have become the symbol of our cause: We are putting them down until we get a fair deal.

Symbolism, whatever. Let’s face it — isn’t this kind of a waste of pencils?
We were worried about that too, so we found a vendor who makes environmentally sensitive product: California Republic Stationers. Their pencils are made from sustainably harvested wood, which means they don’t deforest.

We’ll also send the media moguls suggestions about where they can donate the pencils to non-profits that teach kids how to write. After all, the CEOs aren’t writers. It’s not like they can use them.

You can buy pencils online and have them sent in your name, and also watch a video about the campaign; plus, New Yorkers can attend a rally at noon on Tuesday, November 27, to show their support for the writers — details on all that and more, right here!

As we enter the second week of the writers’ strike, we’re scouring the nooks and crannies of the Internets for new Stephenalia to help feed our addiction. This past week we added a few new items to our Musky Treasures, Vault II. You’ll find these right at the beginning:

• A full hour of Stephen, reading and then answering some great interviewer and audience questions, at the Apple Store/Soho! Definitely worth a listen.
• Stephen introduces Nancy Pelosi at the 2007 Glamour Awards
• Stephen calls in to the Brian & The Judge radio show to yak about being shut out of the South Carolina ballot

And way down at the bottom of the Treasures…

• Video of two corporate parodies from Stephen’s Second City days–“Clowns, Inc.” and “Business Naptime”

Enjoy, beleaguered Nation!

We’ve been terribly remiss–six weeks of remiss, apparently–in recognizing the brilliant work of NoFactZone.net/CU staffer Jennie, epic compiler of Episode Guides and of the “Stephen Colbert” Data Archive. She’s weighed in with another huge chunk, fun facts gained from the January through June 2007 episodes. Nation, did you know:

• Stephen’s semiautomatic weapons whisper to him at night
• When called for jury duty, he dresses as a wizard or insists on being sworn in on Jethro Tull’s “Aqua Lung”
• He has his Yahoo Alerts set to send stories about “riches”
• He endorsed Ginger Spice for president in 2000
• He is so detached from reality, LSD has no effect on him

There’s more, much much more, in the Data Archive, including earlier chunks (October-December 2005 and January-June 2006).

Warning: Reading the Data Archive all at once may induce paroxysms of uncontrollable laughter and attract other Colbert fans to your side.