Just in case you don't get C-SPAN, check out Stephen Colbert's hilarious presentation at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Update: the original "youtube" links have been removed. (Hmm... suppression! It must be important!) So here is Colbert's routine in Bit Torrent format.Bit Torrent is here. Oh, and here's another Colbert link from filmportal.

There are some in the media who claim that his routine was a "flop" or "unfunny" because the people at the event weren't laughing too much (except Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was guffawing fit to burst at an "improper Italian hand gesture" sequence directed specifically at him). It's true there weren't a lot of big laugh-getters, and when the camera showed the crowd, there were a lot of expressions that read as "Omigod! I can't believe he just SAID that!"

Which of course is what you'll get from most truly brilliant comedy -- the first time around. It's a sad, shameful fact that safe and predictable jokes are the most guaranteed laugh-getters. They just aren't the jokes that matter later.

But look at it this way. How many people go to a typical White House Correspondents Dinner? A few hundred? (Um. Turns out it's 2,000, according to Paul, who's usually right about such things.) How many people watch C-SPAN? A few thousand? And how many people take a gander at a "hot" Internet video clip?

Well, I don't know, actually, but I'm betting it's more people than watch C-SPAN.

Anyway, the video is funnier (timing and all), but a nice dKos person has typed up a reasonably accurate transcript of the brilliance in case you can't watch the video.

Related footnote: Wanna know why Democrats lose elections?

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) came to the defense of the commander in chief after Saturday’s White House Correspondents' Association dinner, where the president took a drubbing from comedian Stephen Colbert.
"I thought some of it was funny, but I think it got a little rough," Hoyer said. "He is the president of the United States, and he deserves some respect."

Yeah, yeah. You gotta fight politics by the Marquess of Queensberry rules. Except, when the Republicans are fighting a bar brawl, you fight by the rules and you lose.