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The Flaming Lips stopped by Colbert last night and debuted a new tune off their upcoming Embryonic album.  The album is also streaming on Colbert Nation, so it’s really win-win for all involved.  I like where Colbert is going with this.

The GOP seems to have lost it’s way since the Democrats clean sweep in November, trying desperately to fling outrageous-shit-lies and hoping it sticks behind the fat bodice of Rush Limbaugh. 

It’s clear that the GOP specifically, and not the conservative movement, has no ideas on how to help the country when members of the RNC plan to meet next week to “approve a resolution rebranding Democrats as the ‘Democrat Socialist Party.’”

Really?  It’s about as ridiculous if the Democrats met to pass a resolution rebranding the Republicans as the “Republican Fascist Party.”  I guess, every issue in this country has been solved since this is what they are working on. 

Though, I much prefer Stephen Colbert’s suggestion that the GOP rebrand themselves with the cockroach as their logo during last night’s episode.  Because the cockroach is resilient and will be around forever! 

“The GOP needs to make painful, soul-searching, superficial changes to their image without altering anything inside,” according to Stephen Colbert.

Maybe that’s their new plan to just outlast the Democrats after the nuclear holocaust.

The Dana Carvey Show only aired for eight episodes, in 1996, launching the careers of what would eventually become some of the most popular and influential figures in comedy: Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell, Bob Odenkirk, Louis C.K., Charlie Kaufman, Robert Smigel, and Spike Feresten.

Revisting the episodes, at the behest of Goldenfiddlr, we’re struck by how dated the political comedy could have been, but is saved by the sureal nature and warped perspective of the writers.  You haven’t lived until you’ve watched a flabby President Bill Clinton breastfeed animals and turn into a mutant animal or Paul McCartney ramble on about a Snickers bar.  The show debuted The Ambiguously Gay Duo, in primetime for crying out loud. 

The names mentioned above are just the heavy hitters, but their writing staff also included a deep and talented bench: Robert Carlock (30 Rock’s main writer), Mike Stoyanov played Anthony Russo on Blossom and went on to write for Mr. Show, Dino Stamatopoulos wrote for Mr. Show, as well, and now works his magic for Adult Swim, and Jon Glaser wrote for Conan for several years and has since settled in at Adult Swim also. 

Up until recently, the episodes were only available on busted VHS tapes recorded from the broadcast feed, but the full series can now be seen for free on Hulu. 

You won’t be disappointed.  Unless, of course, you don’t find Dana Carvey’s surreal comedy funny or any of the writers funny either.  Then you will probably be disappointed.  But we will also not be friends.  Sorry.

Neil Gaimon.   Stephen Colbert.  Do you need to know more?  Well, okay then.  Gaimon was on the how to promote his new children’s book The Graveyard Book, winner of the most recent Newbury Medal.

During Gaiman’s introduction, Colbert said he was “going to bury him,” but really he went very easy on the author, choosing to humorously question him on why a children’s book would be set in a graveyard.

Also?  Gaimon in a suit.  No black shirt and leather jacket.

I know, I know.  I’ve avoided writing about the whole Christian Bale freaking the fuck out because, who cares right?  We sorta suspected the actor had anger management issues to begin with (and no, Harry Knowles’s defense of Bale is way off the mark and laughable in its own right for the incomprehensible grammar).  The remixes and songs floating around make us hate the story even more. 

So to refresh: Audio clip and background here and here.  But, Stephen Colbert and Steve Martin bringing the funny makes us glad stories like this happen, so we can get some laughs like this.

We are now fucking done professionally with Christian Bale tirades.

In case you don�t start to sense it in my articles, I am such a fan of �fourth wall� humor as well as the subtle things writers add in that most people don�t catch. That�s not a compliment to myself; since I believe I only catch these little gems from the hours I clock on the couch watching way too much television. That being said, let�s move on to some of the highlights of Sunday�s fall season kick-off:

The Simpsons � The Springfield family started their 19th (wow) season off with a brand new intro, which was priceless. For fans that saw The Simpsons Movie over the summer, you�ll see hilarious nods at the large bubble that encapsulated Springfield, Spider Pig and the fact that Matt Groening took two decades to make this movie. Unfortunately, the episode itself didn�t hold a candle to the intro, but after 19 years it�s still better all of the new sitcoms being introduced this fall. On a side note, Stephen Colbert appears as Homer�s life coach.

Family Guy � Seth McFarlane is a genius, of that I am sure. Last week I had the chance to hear him interviewed along with his sister, Rachel, and now I am more of a fan than ever. For this season�s opener, McFarlane created an hour-long parody of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, spoofing the entire movie and using the films’ original musical score and some of the special effects, all with the blessing of George Lucas himself. Destined to be a classic. My favorite moments � Stewie as Darth Vader and Brian as Chewbacca, Chris/Luke�s reply to Lois/Leia when rescuing her and the squabbling at the end between McFarlane�s Peter and Seth Green�s Chris regarding Robot Chicken (who Green created and used to spoof Star Wars first). Now that�s fourth wall humor.

Tonight be sure to set all your VCR�s and DVR�s to overload since the following shows all have premiers: Heroes (YAY!), CSI: Miami, Journeyman, Two And A Half Men, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, Dancing With The Stars, Big Bang Theory, Rules Of Engagement, The Bachelor, Prison Break and a dozen others if you include non-network channels � egads!!

• Best bets � Heroes, HIMYM, 2.5 Men, Prison Break
• Worth checking out � Journeyman
• Miss without guilt � Big Bang, The Bachelor

Stephen Colbert is leaping away from truthiness and into the creaminess of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Stephen Colbert’s “Americone Dream” flavor was announced Monday at a NYC event. The flavor is vanilla ice cream with fudge covered waffle cone pieces and caramel swirl. From the press release:

“Recognizing that we, as a country, are at a time in our nation�s history where we need to reach across the aisle to people of all political ideologies � the left-leaning liberals at the company�s headquarters in Vermont felt it was fine to combine forces with the media man-of-steel. The company adds there are many similarities between Colbert and themselves. �He�s about political activism, so are we. He stands up for what he believes in, so do we. He supports Bill O�Reilly, and we� think he has a right to his opinion,� says ice cream Co-founder, Jerry Greenfield.”

Git’som!