Stephen Colbert "campaigns" in South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Television comedian Stephen Colbert took his political shtick down south on Friday, staging a mock campaign rally in South Carolina, the site of the next Republican presidential primary.

Colbert, who grew up in South Carolina, held a bogus rally on the grounds of the College of Charleston, and urged fans to vote for former Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who also spoke at the rally.

Cain suspended his campaign in December amid allegations of sexual harassment and infidelity, but he remains on the ballot for Saturday's South Carolina primary.

"Anybody who knows me knows that I have believed in the message of Herman Cain for several days now," the Charleston native told the crowd. "I would want you to vote for Herman Cain because Herman Cain is me."

Part of Colbert's fun makes a serious point about the growth of new Super PAC funding organizations that are spending huge amounts on attack ads on candidates. Political action committees, or PACs, are groups with great clout in U.S. politics that are legally separate from candidates. A Supreme Court ruling in 2010 allows corporations and unions to raise unlimited funds to buy ads that encourage or discourage the election of specific candidates.

"Faced with this tragic lack of corporate influence in our government, five courageous, unelected justices of the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the constitutional right to spend unlimited money in political speech," Colbert said.

He was backed by a gospel choir that occasionally chimed in, singing, "Corporations are people," a phrase made famous by Republican front-runner Mitt Romney.

A crowd, comprised mostly of college students, stood in line for up to four hours to get into the event. They held signs that said "Get on the Cain Train" and "Control the bear population" and included a couple of animal rights activists dressed in pig costumes.

"Stephen Colbert make politics more accessible. He makes things real," said Catherine Mueller, 18 of Dallas, Texas.

(Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Comic Colbert using PAC to encourage Iowa vote (AP)

NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert's latest attempt at campaign mischief-making involves encouraging Iowans to write in a false name during the weekend's presidential straw poll, but one television station in Des Moines isn't playing along.

Colbert, who formed a "super PAC" this year and won approval from the Federal Election Commission to begin taking contributions, is encouraging Iowans to vote for "Rick Parry" during Saturday's test vote for Republican presidential candidates.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with an "e," signaled his intention to join the GOP presidential scrum on Thursday but is not on the straw poll ballot. Voters are able to write in candidates, however.

The comic, who portrays a mock political talk host on his Comedy Central show, produced two television commercials through his PAC, laden with images of corn and farms, asking for the "Parry" vote. "That's 'Parry' with an 'a' for America, an 'a' for Iowa," one ad says.

On his show Thursday, he encouraged the misspelled vote "because there's no 'e' in 'team.'"

Colbert bought commercial time to run his ads on the NBC and CBS affiliates in Des Moines. But the ABC affiliate, WOI-DT, rejected the ads. In an email sent to Colbert, the station said the ads would confuse voters.

"The Midwestern media elite are trying to silence us," Colbert said. "They don't want your voice to be heard, folks. The fat cats in Des Moines think they can sit in their ivory corn silos and play puppet-master with our national politics."

The station's vice president and general manager did not immediately return phone and email messages Friday.

Lawyers at KCCI-TV, Des Moines' CBS affiliate, looked the ads over and had no problems with them, said Paul Fredricksen, the vice president and general manager. There's been little reaction, he said. Dale Woods, general manager at the NBC affiliate WHO-TV, said he'd received no phone calls about the ads.

"In summary, it's really something we haven't seen before," Fredricksen said.

Colbert, who is name-checking contributors to his PAC on his website, said that it is "165,000 strong."

Colbert tried to run as a Democrat during the 2008 primary in his native South Carolina, but party officials kept him off the ballot.

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Stephen Colbert, Jack White cut a record together (AP)

NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert wants to climb the charts.

Colbert debuted his new Jack White-produced single, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)" on "The Colbert Report" Thursday night.

Colbert has featured White on "The Colbert Report" all week during his "rock odyssey" series, "Dr. Pepper Presents StePhest ColbChella `011 — Rock You Like a Thirst-Icane."

The former White Stripe and his Nashville-based record label, Third Man Records, produced the track. The Black Belles, a goth girl rock band on Third Man, performed backup.

The reference of the song is one only die-hard members of the Colbert Nation likely will grasp. It's a follow-up to his mock `80s new wave song, "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)."

Since 2006, Colbert has occasionally alluded to the song and suggested that before his conservative pundit character became a TV show host, he was the lead singer in a group called Stephen and the Colberts.

But the sequel, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)," is entering the real world. The song is to be available from iTunes and Third Man Records, including on vinyl copies. There's even a limited edition red-white-and-blue edition, with the vinyl dyed in the colors of the flag.

Colbert and White will be selling copies Friday in Manhattan from the Third Man Records' "rolling record store" — a truck that travels the country selling the label's music.

This is White's second collaboration with a late-night talk show host. Last year he released a live rockabilly album with Conan O'Brien.

Colbert has taken every chance to remind White that he's a Grammy winner. Colbert's "A Colbert Christmas" won the Grammy for best comedy album in 2010.

But this is far from the comedian's first foray into musical performance. Among his greatest hits are a performance of "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys, a "shred-off" with the Decemberists and a rendition of Rebecca Black's "Friday."

___

Online:

http://www.colbernation.com

.

Yahoo! News

Stephen Colbert, Jack White cut a record together (AP)

NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert wants to climb the charts.

Colbert debuted his new Jack White-produced single, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)" on "The Colbert Report" Thursday night.

Colbert has featured White on "The Colbert Report" all week during his "rock odyssey" series, "Dr. Pepper Presents StePhest ColbChella `011 — Rock You Like a Thirst-Icane."

The former White Stripe and his Nashville-based record label, Third Man Records, produced the track. The Black Belles, a goth girl rock band on Third Man, performed backup.

The reference of the song is one only die-hard members of the Colbert Nation likely will grasp. It's a follow-up to his mock `80s new wave song, "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)."

Since 2006, Colbert has occasionally alluded to the song and suggested that before his conservative pundit character became a TV show host, he was the lead singer in a group called Stephen and the Colberts.

But the sequel, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)," is entering the real world. The song is to be available from iTunes and Third Man Records, including on vinyl copies. There's even a limited edition red-white-and-blue edition, with the vinyl dyed in the colors of the flag.

Colbert and White will be selling copies Friday in Manhattan from the Third Man Records' "rolling record store" — a truck that travels the country selling the label's music.

This is White's second collaboration with a late-night talk show host. Last year he released a live rockabilly album with Conan O'Brien.

Colbert has taken every chance to remind White that he's a Grammy winner. Colbert's "A Colbert Christmas" won the Grammy for best comedy album in 2010.

But this is far from the comedian's first foray into musical performance. Among his greatest hits are a performance of "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys, a "shred-off" with the Decemberists and a rendition of Rebecca Black's "Friday."

___

Online:

http://www.colbernation.com

.

Yahoo! News

TV's Colbert joining Charleston to Bermuda race (AP)

CHARLESTON, S.C. – TV's Stephen Colbert is prepared to battle manta rays and men-of-war at sea in the OnDeck Charleston to Bermuda yachting race.

The comedian captains the Spirit of Juno, one of 11 boats leaving from Charleston on Saturday for the 777 mile race.

Colbert crewed on a boat during the race six years ago before "The Colbert Report" went on the air. That boat had mechanical problems and arrived two days after the awards ceremony.

"The most pleasant disaster I have ever been a part of," Colbert remembered Friday. "Last time, I was chaplain and the cook and the morale officer and those all came together at grace. This time I hope I still get to cook. I'm the pharmacist. I've brought the anti-nausea medication."

Colbert did some sailing growing up in Charleston.

"But I don't have an ear drum in one ear so I'm not waterproof. As a kid I couldn't do much vigorous sailing for fear we would capsize and I would just basically go down like the Titanic," he said.

This time his boat has a crew of 12 allowing a chance for more sleep.

"Last time we didn't get more than three hours at a pop for seven days, which, as you may know, is how totalitarian regimes break their enemies," he added.

At race's end, he promises to gloat on his show. "If I win, you bet I will. I'll be bringing that trophy back and be drinking out of it," he said.

The comedian sees the ocean as Earth's last untamed place.

"You never know what you're going to see. You wake up one morning and you're in a field of Portuguese man of war or you're being circled by manta ray or you're in a storm," he said.

Will the experience make Colbert more humble?

"Me, yes. My character no. He'll use it to pump himself up. He'll just brag," he promised.

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Jimmy Fallon Starts Ice Cream Rivalry With Colbert

Only Jimmy Fallon could whip up a concoction that featured potato chips and ice cream. The late-night host debuted his new Ben & Jerry's flavor on Wednesday evening, revealing that his sweet and salty treat, called Late Night Snack, a rich vanilla bean ice cream with a salty caramel swirl and crunchy fudge covered potato chip clusters. And boy, is it delicious!

Following in the footsteps of other celebrity-brand flavors, Fallon has already started a faux rivalry with Stephen Colbert, who released Americone Dream back in 2007.

"I hope I never see that man's ice cream next to mine ... Americone Dream -- oh my gosh-- ice cream cones in ice cream, what a genius idea. He's Albert Einstein," Fallon joked to the press during the unveiling of his new flavor at 30 Rock. "Late Night Snack is an untouchable flavor."
The collaboration started inadvertently last summer when Fallon performed a musical tribute to Ben & Jerry's with his spoof vocal group, Ladysmith Snack Mambazo.



After that, Ben & Jerry's contacted the show and requested a meeting. "They set up ice cream in our conference room, started talking and asked if we wanted to do our own flavor," Fallon recalled. "We said, 'Are you kidding?! That's living the dream!'"

Aside from the tasty snack, Fallon has a bigger message he hopes to send to fans and consumers about Fair Trade products. Because Late Night Snack is made with Fair Trade vanilla and Fair Trade cocoa in the potato chip cluster fudge coating, NBC and Fallon have pledged their share of the proceeds to Fair Trade Universities to encourage the use of Fair Trade products on campuses around the country.

Fair Trade supports fair wages, a safe work environment, sustainability for the land, animal husbandry and community development for farming communities.Filed under: Celebrity Eats - Gut Reactions - TV News - Jimmy Fallon Tags: ben and jerrys, Jimmy Fallon, jimmy fallon ice cream, late night snack
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