DVD Review: A Dash of Truthiness

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UNLIKE MANY OF HER colleagues, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton acquits herself very well during her two appearances on "The Best of the Colbert Report," a new DVD collecting the most popular segments from Stephen Colbert's show on Comedy Central.

Instead of playing along with his pitch-perfect send-up of a conservative pundit or trying to provide serious answers to silly questions, Norton scolds him like she would a schoolboy for his super-naive assumptions, but she does so with the unflappable good humor of someone who's had to deal with much worse.

Norton is just one of many guests on this long-awaited DVD, which also features recognizable names like Anderson Cooper and Bill "Papa Bear" O'Reilly along with public figures who rarely make national television appearances, such as former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida's "Fightin'" 19th District. The array of guests speaks to the show's pop-cultural and political smarts: "The Colbert Report" combines the intelligence of old-school Dick Cavett with the role-playing irony of Sasha Baron Cohen.

Because Colbert gets laughs satirizing politicians and the media through segments like "The Word" (which introduced the term "truthiness," among many others), he is often dismissed as a "mock pundit," although his punditry is arguably more useful than that of, say, Ann Coulter. Like John Stewart on "The Daily Show," Colbert, who also penned the best-seller "I Am America (And So Can You!)," has been able to educate and mobilize a young populace that distrusts mainstream politics through segments like his green-screen challenge and the proposed 435-part "Better Know a District."

However, a show of this caliber and impact deserves better than this slapdash DVD. While the disc does highlight the range of Colbert's commentary, "The Best of the Colbert Report" nevertheless feels awkwardly assembled and frustratingly incomplete.

There are no bonus features, no making-of featurettes or interviews with cast or crew members. In fact, the only new material is a single deleted scene with Norton, which, while funny, only points out this DVD's considerable limitations.

On the other hand, it's hard to argue against any DVD that features Henry Kissinger declaring, "It's time to rock!"

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner