Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I often stumble upon things that enrich and enlighten my worldview, helping me to grow as a person.
This is decidedly not one of those things.
Most of us remember the innocent family friendly comedy of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the show that brought the art of improv from the trendy darkened theaters of big cities into the living rooms of everyone.
It began as a British show and like most of their creative endeavors, it was later brought to America where we described it with terms like 'Fresh!' and 'Fun for the whole family!'.
The basic cast was almost always the same featuring Colin Mochire, Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady and host Drew Carey.
The fourth comedian slot rotated among a pool of other regular contributors (there's one online featuring Robin Williams), but once in a while they picked a relative unknown to chime in.
These two episodes feature a young Stephen Colbert.
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| "Did you say there isn't enough ME on this show? I agree completely." |
They aren't the funniest episodes—I chose to fast forward through the non-Colbert parts—but we see some precursors to the current King of American satire.
In both episodes, Stephen hosts a fake newscast worth a few chuckles. He demonstrates his inability to rap while showing off dance moves that are distinctly 'him'.
There's also a sketch where he and Wayne Brady are supposed to 'fake' German, and based on my rudimentary foreign language skills (and the video comments), Stephen actually speaks bits of the language including the gem, “Today Germany is ours, tomorrow, the whole world!”
