Opinion
District to turn tables on Colbert
By: Jeff Dufour
Editor at Large/Columnist, "Yeas & Nays"
09/22/08 12:05 AM EDT
 |
Last year’s Annual Roast for Spina Bifida could have been called the roast that wasn’t. The roasters were skittish about going after the honoree, ABC’s Bob Woodruff, who suffered a brain injury in Iraq, and thus the gloves stayed on for most of the night.
Don’t expect the same this year, when the honoree for the 20th annual event will be none other than Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert.
So far, the Spina Bifida Association is mum on who will roast the deadpan funnyman, but members of Congress ought to be lining up to give him some of his own medicine. How about Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., often called the funniest man in Congress? Colbert famously asked Frank about his wife, knowing all the while that he’s gay. Frank later called the shtick “two stooges short of a good routine.”
Or Virginia Democrat Jim Moran, who took a playful swing at Colbert during their interview? Or D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who sparred with Colbert over whether the District is actually part of the United States? Or Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., whom Colbert persuaded to say, “I like coke because it’s a fun thing to do.”
Whoever lines up to take his or her shots at Colbert, expect a run on tickets, which go for $500 per person, or $350 for first-timers to the event.
