The talk show host serves the role of an electronic shaman, a healer of society’s wounds, using a gentle nature and the toolkit of comedy, full of pun, metaphor and sleight-of-hand wordplay. He (almost always a male) brings up the painful issues while adding salve to these raw areas. He makes sense of sensitive subjects not yet suitable for polite discussion and not fully understood or absorbed.
The starting point for my understanding of the talk show host came from a single source:
The starting point for my understanding of the talk show host came from a single source:
1) a single passage by Camille Paglia in Sexual Personae
Camille Paglia speaks of “a category of androgyne, the
nurturant male or male mother. He can be found in sculptures of the river gods,
in Romantic poetry ((Wordsworth and Keats) and in modern popular culture
(television talk show hosts).”
Paglia’s discussion moves to the transsexual qualities of the Delphic oracle and the mixture of male and female voices in the prophesying of the Oracle of Delphi. The medium assumes multiple personalities much like the “ventriloquism Frazer ascribes to entranced shamans.” (Sexual Personae, p. 46)
Paglia’s discussion moves to the transsexual qualities of the Delphic oracle and the mixture of male and female voices in the prophesying of the Oracle of Delphi. The medium assumes multiple personalities much like the “ventriloquism Frazer ascribes to entranced shamans.” (Sexual Personae, p. 46)
The phrase “nurturant male” offers a dazzling insight into the funny men in control of the late night airwaves. The late night host is a different kind of comic, more gentle in spirit and supportive by nature
than the aggressive standup with the take-no-prisoners mentality.
In recent months Stephen Colbert has played the role of healer in the era of Trump. Donald Trump does not have a serious political rival from the Democratic party. Bernie Sanders plays a leadership role from the left, but Trump's true adversaries are the comedians. Alec Baldwin, playing Trump on SNL, played a significant role in the political dialogue with his brilliant mockery of Trump's hair, mannerisms, speech, narcissistic demeanor, and all-around bluster. Baldwin could not don (pun) the Don Trump wig forever. The job fell to Stephen Colbert to take the Trump bull by the horns. Colbert would wrestle the bull downward using the comedian's toolkit.
Colbert earned his stripes with Jon Stewart Daily Show and on the Colbert Report playing his Bill O'Reilly sendup, a faux conservative done totally tongue-in-cheek. As Tonight Show host, Colbert could emerge as the real Colbert, closer to his personal beliefs and a more nurturant male. He has used the opening monologues and his comedic talents to calm some of the nation's angst. Colbert, as late night shaman, offers a enlightened man's sensibilities as a contrast to harsh worldview of Donald Trump. Colbert's rise in the rankings proves the talk show host remains relevant, perhaps now more than ever-- in our totally electrified universe. Trump tweets all day and Colbert answers at night.
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