The book “I am America (And So Can You!)” by Stephen Colbert, is a great parody of the mindset of many ultra-conservative people and there life in America. This book is an extension of the tv show, The Colbert Report, in which the character, Stephen Colbert who is a “well-intentioned, poorly informed high status idiot,” gives his flawed and hilarious opinion on everything from politics to bears. The show is designed to be a mockery of conserative talk-show hosts such as Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. When they wrote their books on how to become “good Americans,” Colbert thought it was only right for him to do the same. In the book, Colbert depicts himself as “America,” and that in order to become a perfect American, one must read the steps from childhood to adolesence and finally to maturity. Within these three steps are many topics that Colbert satires including animals (that will take over the world if not careful), families ( the father works and the mother takes care of the house or else the child will turn into a homosexual criminal), and religion (Roman Catholicism is the only way to go). In the end, Colbert claims America will be a completely conservative and perfect nation.
In order to better understand this book, one must understand that it is in effect being written by two completely different people: the character Stephen Colbert and the real Stephen Colbert. The character Stephen Colbert is described as a well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot,” and blustery, self-obsessed right wing commentator with a strong distaste for facts. The character Stephen Colbert grew up in a conservative, white, Catholic home which shaped his worldview for his entire life. Colbert went on to a college career where he cheated through, and a career in journalism, that was scraped together by trashing other journalist’s career’s, until he was discovered by Jon Stewart who offered him a tv show. Since then, he has used the program to televise his many views on every issue from his irrational fear of bears to his obsessive love of President Bush, often resorting to various rhetorical devices and logical fallacies instead of facts.
The book itself is written using the voice of the character Stephen Colbert. However, in order to truly understand the character, one must also understand its creator, the real Stephen Colbert. The real Stephen Colbert grew up in a similar family situation to that of his character, being born to a Catholic, Irish-American family of eleven, in Washington D.C. From an early age, Colbert was already showing signs of idealism and intelligence, as shown by his questioning of some of the Catholic church’s beliefs as well as teaching himself to imitate the speaking style of news anchors in order to avoid the negative stereotype of a “dumb, southerner.” Another skill, the young Colbert showed was that of comedy and improvisation. As a child, Colbert’s love of science fiction novels, fantasy board games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and school plays fueled his imagination, to which he acredits much of his success. These two signs of talent lead Colbert to an acting career, starting off doing small improvisational shows and theater troupe’s but eventually growing to roles in movies and eventually a spot opposite Jon Stewart, on a tv show about political satire. Colbert realized that he had finally found his niche, combining both his passions for questioning the ideas of society and discussing important issues and using his performing skills by creating the character, Stephen Colbert to convey the messages in a hilarious and unpredictable way.
This book contains three memorable quotes, that contain great meaning and symbolize the points trying to be made within the book. One obvious and quite humorous one is that of Colbert stating that “I am America (And So Can You!).” The phrase, which is grammatical incorrect, shows that the character, Stephen Colbert, is pretty unintelligent. The scary part and ironic idea that is being portrayed here is that this character is claiming to be a role model for the citizens of America and yet isn’t smart to say the idea correctly, much less pull through to make the idea a good one.
