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Dawkins on Colbert

Dawkins is much like Randi...you can read their brilliant writing all-day, but until you actually get to see them in person, you can't really appreciate how charismatic and intelligent they are.

They both also have rapid-fire, hobbit-esque voices that are music to the ear.
 
Crowbot said:
Do a google video or youtube search for something to the effect of "dawkins debate". He's incredibly agile when it comes to debate and just communicating ideas in general.

Unless of course you meant colbert, who operates on a level of sarcasm I will never be able to reach but can only admire from a distance.
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Oooh...

Ya gotta see root of all evil. I'll quote an old post with a bunch of video links of some of my favorites including the Dawkins videos.

RandFan said:
The Root Of All Evil part 1 (Richard Dawkins) (50 minutes aprox)
The Root Of All Evil part 2 (Richard Dawkins) (47 minutes)

The atheist tapes:
Richard Dawkins
Colin Mcginn
Daniel Dennett
Denys Turner
Steven Weinberg

Other favorites of mine.

The Power of Faith (3 minutes)
Atheist (5 minutes)
Who wrote the Bible? (1 hour 40 minutes)

More are at www.infidelguy.com
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Wow, these forums are like crack! All the links! I just got here today (even though I registered a long time ago and forgot about it.)

Colbert handled it very well, throwing out satirical versions of the responses that Dawkins usually gets from believers, but he kept them brief and let Dawkins talk. To be honest, I had the same misgivings about Colbert's style that Dawkins did; it does sometimes get in the way of a good interview (but then, even Stewart's jokes sometimes get in the way.) But it worked well, although it's always too brief, with only twelve minutes or so for the interview.

An interesting note on Colbert: he teaches Sunday school, and is a Tolkien freak who played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons when he was young. Can you imagine his Sunday school classes? He probably does it to make sure that the kids don't turn out twisted (the Bible is an awful book to teach kids.)
 
I thought Dawkins was good, but Colbert was a little weak. He seemed to be having trouble coming up with arguments inane enough to be credibly ID.
 
Colbert: I... lost.

Now that's comedy!

I really wish the interview could have gone on longer though.

Hmm... I wonder... Would the Steven be interested in working with Dawkins as a comedy duo, faking debates to great effect all over the country and (english speaking) parts beyond?
 
Elentar said:
To be honest, I had the same misgivings about Colbert's style that Dawkins did; it does sometimes get in the way of a good interview (but then, even Stewart's jokes sometimes get in the way.)
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After all, it is called Comedy Central. I think they've gotten people confused on this point due to their incredible ability to become a power factor in news and media, landing such names as Dawkins and Musharraf, and still manage to be funny. People are beginning to expect them to deliver serious stuff also.

I think this was best illustrated in 2004 when CNN had Jon Stewart as a guest on that Tucker Carlson (-ton?) and whats-his-face -show. If you haven't seen that one, search for it immediately. It's brilliant and amongst other things, it perfectly illustrates this exact point. Stewart suddenly finds himself attacked on the point that The Daily Show isn't inquisitive enough (I think) and rebuts with the classic: (from memory) "I'm on COMEDY CENTRAL, for crying out loud! The show that comes after me is 'PUPPETS MAKING PRANK PHONE CALLS'!!!"

Ah. I'm gonna watch that clip when I get home (I'm on GPRS from a café). It's a classic. See Tucker receive a thorough beating live. :)
 
Freethinker said:
I've read some of his stuff and seen transcripts of some interviews, but it was the first time I'd seen him on video. He really handles himself well, and comes across as a rational, level-headed guy. I like him a lot.
:bigclap
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Ditto here, and I especially liked his reference to Stephen Hawkins. :)
 
Dog Boots said:
After all, it is called Comedy Central. I think they've gotten people confused on this point due to their incredible ability to become a power factor in news and media, landing such names as Dawkins and Musharraf, and still manage to be funny. People are beginning to expect them to deliver serious stuff also.
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To be fair, I think that a lot of Jon Stewart's interviews would be funnier if he was a bit harder hitting. (On the occasions where he's rougher with the interviewee, he is generally funnier, I think.) But of course, if his interviews were more challenging, he'd have trouble getting people to go on the show, and then he'd have to focus on interviewing celebrities again, so it's kind of a Catch-22.

(Colbert's interviews are a bit trickier to discuss, since he has to interview in character, which is a whole new dynamic. I think he hits as good a balance between being a dick and letting people actually say what they want to say.)
 
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