Should Stephen Colbert Be Calling Anderson Cooper ‘CNN’s Immortal Elf’ Right Now?

Last night, for the second night in a row, Stephen Colbert joked about the attacks suffered by CNN’s Anderson Cooper at the hands of a angry and pro-Mubarak crowd in Cairo. The jokes were rather mild and delivered in the comedic style of Colbert’s over-the-top character, but given that journalists in Egypt are facing grave danger of being kidnapped amid threats of beheadings, one wonders if maybe its a little too soon to make light of a pretty scary set of circumstances.

On Wednesday night Colbert made similar light of Cooper’s ordeal, as did his Comedy Central compadre Jon Stewart, who’s bit we also thought showed questionable judgment, particularly since Cooper is actually out in the field reporting on important news, creating a stark contrast between real journalists and the fake kind referenced here.

There’s no question that Colbert and Stewart are well regarded comedians who, have in many ways, redefined the way that news and information gets delivered. But ironic comedy such as this — that so heavily relies on the distance between reality and absurdity — can suddenly become completely devoid of any meaning, which ultimately makes the joke teller seem both completely detached, and sadly, unfunny.

Watch the clip courtesy of Comedy Central below:

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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