Stephen Colbert and Philosophy - Aaron Allen Schiller [29]
But in several significant ways The Report proves the greater wisdom of Heraclitus and Plato over Aristotle, and by so performing philosophy, gives us a better indication of “the end of life.” When we watch The Report our entertainment transcends play as relaxing medicinal rest; we are swept up in the intensity of a play in which we feel most alive and, as Heraclitus says, are “most ourselves.”
Athletes, sports-fans, game-players and spectators of all sorts have great fun and experience delightful intensity, but few play activities compare with the vital suspension of disbelief Colbert inspires. For Aristotle and his ilk to disparage play as a biological need, such as sleep or rest, is certainly to underestimate the work of the imagination ignited in dreams and childhood play. Adults no less than children need to stretch their imaginations in play. We in the “Colbert Nation” conveyed to “the Eagle’s Nest” four nights a week do not merely rest, but rather exercise our “fun muscles.” Our best and most engaging playmate, Stephen Colbert, is our trainer and coach. He gives us an invaluable workout: the reminiscence of childhood spontaneity and creativity.
If we have any doubts about the significance of this exercise in fun, and whether play gives us an indication of the “end of life,” we might consider that while play is present in all higher animals (yes of course, cats and dogs and even fish, play), play is likely at the root of all human achievement. In the words of the philosopher Kurt Riezler:
Man’s playing is his greatest victory over his dependence and finite-ness, his servitude to things. Not only can he conquer his environment and force conditions to comply with his needs and demands far beyond the power of any other animal. He can also play, i.e. detach himself from things and their demands and replace the world of given conditions with a playworld of his own mood, set himself rules and goals and thus defy the world of blind necessities, meaningless things, and stupid demands. Religious rites, festivities, social codes, language, music, art—even science—all contain at least an element of play. You can almost say that culture is play.59
There’s another, specifically political sense in which The Report proves Heraclitus’s and Plato’s wisdom. We’re not only amused by Colbert, we feel as if we know him, even as we are aware that the man Stephen Colbert—the father and Sunday-school teacher—is far from the character Stephen, the simple-minded apple-pie fascist who delights us. And it’s because we feel that we know Stephen in his playful persona that the absurdist bits such as “Better Know a District,” “Better Know a Lobby,” and “Better Know a Governor,” are relevant to our political culture. The key to the coveted “Colbert Bump” is in the performance (for better or worse) a politician is able to muster in the presence of our favorite divine puppet. Only if one can withstand Colbert’s ridiculous questioning, ideally with grace and aplomb, can he or she have a claim to seriousness, gravitas.
Not everyone would view Colbert’s revelation of character through absurdist play so generously. For Aristotle and others who disparage “mere play,” it’s very difficult to conceive play in politically relevant terms because, they say, there’s a fundamental difference between genuinely edifying artworks and “mere entertainment.” At an extreme of the opposition between so-called “high” and “low” culture, we have the entertainment provided by the Roman Emperors in order to appease and distract a disenfranchised Roman populace: “bread and circuses,” “panis et circenses.” Politically speaking, such entertainment, like