Jenisi
02-18-2008, 09:06 PM
So I'm in a Speech Class (which I hate) and I'm doing an informative speech on Stephen Colbert, which has to be roughly 5-7 minutes long. What I have so far I feel like I'm giving too much information and it's too wordy and I'm not too sure about my conclusion transition, so any help will be great. Read it outloud if you want to. If you find something more interesting in the rest, let me know and I will focus more on that because I feel like I need to give less info. Thanks guys <3
If tried to write a list of the amount of achievements Stephen Colbert has completed in the past few years of his life, I guarantee your wrist would hurt. He has been named one of Time's most influential persons in America, one of the sexiest men in America by People Magazine, he even has his own Ben and jerry's ice cream flavor "Americone Dream." I could go on and on about his honors but for now inform you of the life of Stephen Colbert so you can understand why this man is deserving of so many awards.
Stephen Colbert was born in America's Capital, Washington DC but was raised in South Carolina where he was the youngest of 11 children in an Irish Catholic Family. They were very close bunch and devout catholic’s and his parents taught them to value intellectualism, where they learned it was possible to question to church and still be catholic. You can see this later in his life where he pokes fun at religion in his comedy, but still remains very religious.
When Stephen was only 10 years old, his father was traveling by plane with two of his brothers to Connecticut for school when the plane crashed and everyone aboard died. Shortly after the crash his mother relocated the family downtown and Stephen had a hard time adapting to all the changes that had taken place in his life. He later describes his childhood after this experience as being "detached" and spending a lot of his free time determined to cheer his mother up through comedic means. He didn't make friends quickly and developed a love for science fiction and fantasy, and started playing dungeons and dragons which was his first exposure to improvinization.
As he grew up, he started to get ideas of what he wanted to do with his life. He wasn't a very good student and wanted to pursue a career in marine biology, more specifically scuba diving, but a surgery to repair his right ear drum went bad and left his deaf in that ear, he was unable to to pursue that dream. He then went off to college where he found it easier to focus on his studies and decided to major in philosophy but participating in school plays while he was there.
He transferred to northwestern university where he decided to study communication with the goal of being a dramatic actor, he was not interested in comedy. But after he graduated he found himself in need of work, and accepted a job at Second City an improv sketch comedy venue, where he paid his bills by answering phones and selling souvenirs. He later found that employees could attend training classes for free and he took advantage of these classes. After a few classes, he was hired to perform and became an understudy for Steve Carrell.
After awhile of touring with Steve Carrel, he was offered a spot on a television show Exit 57, despite winning awards it was canceled after only airing 12 episodes. In 1997, he made a few guest appearances on the "Daily show" on comedy central while also working for another show called "strangers with candy". In 1999, John Stewart took over the Daily Show and Stephen was one of the "correspondents" that filmed segments from remote locations. The show started becoming increasingly popular due to it's coverage of the 2000 presidential election, and from there Stephen Colbert made his mark on America.
Becoming increasingly popular he was offered his own show in 2005, The Colbert report. In this show, Colbert's character portrays an right wing extremist with a strong love for America and Truth and with it's brilliance landed him a 5 year contract with comedy central. Then in 2006, he was asked to speak at the white house correspondents dinner and his speech became an internet and media sensation. After his speech, his ratings rose 37% the following week, and in the May issue of Time magazine James Poniewozik wrote "Stephen Colbert’s speech was the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006."
(show clip)
In 2007, he released the book "I am America, and so can you". And it did not have all favorable reviews. In one review called "It may be a book, but you can read it" by Janet Maslin in October 2007, she wrote and I quote "Mr. Colbert and his staff write for a particular character with impeccable, deadpan delivery, and there is no book-worthy equivalent of what happens when the real McCoy gets near a microphone" and even with many other reviews just as bad as this one, it persisted to become the number one on the New York times bestsellers list even with competitors such as Alan Greenspan, Oprah Winfrey and Eric Clapton.
And as I said, his awards are seemingly endless and well deserved. He survived a rough childhood that sculpted him to be the strong person he is today. And like many of us, he struggled with deciding on what to do with his life and had to start at the bottom and work his way to the top. From answering phones and selling souvenirs to being called one of the most influential persons in America, it's no wonder someone so hard working has fulfilled the American dream.
If tried to write a list of the amount of achievements Stephen Colbert has completed in the past few years of his life, I guarantee your wrist would hurt. He has been named one of Time's most influential persons in America, one of the sexiest men in America by People Magazine, he even has his own Ben and jerry's ice cream flavor "Americone Dream." I could go on and on about his honors but for now inform you of the life of Stephen Colbert so you can understand why this man is deserving of so many awards.
Stephen Colbert was born in America's Capital, Washington DC but was raised in South Carolina where he was the youngest of 11 children in an Irish Catholic Family. They were very close bunch and devout catholic’s and his parents taught them to value intellectualism, where they learned it was possible to question to church and still be catholic. You can see this later in his life where he pokes fun at religion in his comedy, but still remains very religious.
When Stephen was only 10 years old, his father was traveling by plane with two of his brothers to Connecticut for school when the plane crashed and everyone aboard died. Shortly after the crash his mother relocated the family downtown and Stephen had a hard time adapting to all the changes that had taken place in his life. He later describes his childhood after this experience as being "detached" and spending a lot of his free time determined to cheer his mother up through comedic means. He didn't make friends quickly and developed a love for science fiction and fantasy, and started playing dungeons and dragons which was his first exposure to improvinization.
As he grew up, he started to get ideas of what he wanted to do with his life. He wasn't a very good student and wanted to pursue a career in marine biology, more specifically scuba diving, but a surgery to repair his right ear drum went bad and left his deaf in that ear, he was unable to to pursue that dream. He then went off to college where he found it easier to focus on his studies and decided to major in philosophy but participating in school plays while he was there.
He transferred to northwestern university where he decided to study communication with the goal of being a dramatic actor, he was not interested in comedy. But after he graduated he found himself in need of work, and accepted a job at Second City an improv sketch comedy venue, where he paid his bills by answering phones and selling souvenirs. He later found that employees could attend training classes for free and he took advantage of these classes. After a few classes, he was hired to perform and became an understudy for Steve Carrell.
After awhile of touring with Steve Carrel, he was offered a spot on a television show Exit 57, despite winning awards it was canceled after only airing 12 episodes. In 1997, he made a few guest appearances on the "Daily show" on comedy central while also working for another show called "strangers with candy". In 1999, John Stewart took over the Daily Show and Stephen was one of the "correspondents" that filmed segments from remote locations. The show started becoming increasingly popular due to it's coverage of the 2000 presidential election, and from there Stephen Colbert made his mark on America.
Becoming increasingly popular he was offered his own show in 2005, The Colbert report. In this show, Colbert's character portrays an right wing extremist with a strong love for America and Truth and with it's brilliance landed him a 5 year contract with comedy central. Then in 2006, he was asked to speak at the white house correspondents dinner and his speech became an internet and media sensation. After his speech, his ratings rose 37% the following week, and in the May issue of Time magazine James Poniewozik wrote "Stephen Colbert’s speech was the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006."
(show clip)
In 2007, he released the book "I am America, and so can you". And it did not have all favorable reviews. In one review called "It may be a book, but you can read it" by Janet Maslin in October 2007, she wrote and I quote "Mr. Colbert and his staff write for a particular character with impeccable, deadpan delivery, and there is no book-worthy equivalent of what happens when the real McCoy gets near a microphone" and even with many other reviews just as bad as this one, it persisted to become the number one on the New York times bestsellers list even with competitors such as Alan Greenspan, Oprah Winfrey and Eric Clapton.
And as I said, his awards are seemingly endless and well deserved. He survived a rough childhood that sculpted him to be the strong person he is today. And like many of us, he struggled with deciding on what to do with his life and had to start at the bottom and work his way to the top. From answering phones and selling souvenirs to being called one of the most influential persons in America, it's no wonder someone so hard working has fulfilled the American dream.