Syrup Suckers and Iceholes Welcome Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report has been comically baiting Vancouver for several weeks now. Calling us unfair Syrup Suckers and Iceholes he has challenged the cliche notion of Canada as a friendly country.

 

He accused Vancouver 2010 of unfairly restricting pre-games access to Olympic Venues to foreign competitors. In doing so, he has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help sponsor the US speed skating team and accepted an invitation from Richmond's mayor (the site of the speed skating oval) to come to Vancouver and be the official speed skating ombudsman.

How could a city civilized enough to have bicycle valets possibly be as unfriendly as he suggests?

This morning, Stephen and crew set up for the first of two sun filled days of taping from Vancouver. On a stage within view of Athlete's Village and BC Place thousands stood in muddy grass to catch his antics. Many arrived as early as five-thirty for the nine fifteen taping.

 

At nine-forty-five the stage manager came out and gave us instructions to cheer really loud when he raised his red mittened hand. then he put on a twenty minute video of Stephen's journey to the Olympics.

At ten thirty the warm up guy finally came out. It amazed me that after, for some, five hours of waiting I did not hear anyone complain. Like everything I've experienced in crowds so far the good mood is relentless.

Then, like on cue, an eagle circled above us and flew away just before Stephen came one stage.
Wearing a USA sweater he greeted us and laughingly asked the audience to forgive him if he "fucks up".

So the show started, and Stephen "fucked up", and it stared again and, you guessed it, he f'd up again. Oh ya, he asked us to keep that to ourselves, oops.

The first segment featured an unedited taped interview with Ujal Dosanjh, MP for Vancouver South, as part of the show's regular segment called "Better Know Your District" renamed as "Better Know Your Riding". It will be interesting to see what makes the cut.

The first guest, Michael Buble, came out and the crowd started chanting "ride the moose, ride the moose". Michael looked slightly frightened. I understand, I swear that moose kept staring at me.

Stephen and Michael sang Oh Canada to the tune of God Bless America. It hurt my brain.

The next guest was Mike Eruzione the captain the the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" men's hockey team. They talked about the comparison between America of 1980 and America now, economic depression, a war, and a weak democratic president. Mike said it was good for America to defeat their enemy in hockey which led to speculation about a Taliban hockey team.

It snowed for Stephen's entrance with guest sportscaster Bob Costas. They talked about the summer Olympics and whatever season this is.

 

Bob is a tough character who has seen it all so he wasn't afraid to bow to the crowd's wishes.

Stephen ended the show by picking up the beaver that was part of the set and remarking that it smelled like wet beaver. Then he signed off.

After the show he raised a beaver in thanks joked about how hard he is on us. The entire taping took about an hour and a half for a half hour episode. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like.  I'll think about going to tomorrow's taping. Nine-fifteen(ish) beside Science World. It's a fun time. Check it out. I'm sure he will be bragging about watching the US speed skater's successful day. How about that Shani Davis?