First thing they tell you in blog school is that it’s wicked tough to follow an Abu Ghraib undergarment torture post, so I’m just not even going to try. I’m just going to go in an entirely other few directions.
The other day, while teaching my freshman composition class, I made the mistake of commenting on the refreshing atypicality of a rather macho male student’s unabashed pride in his new niece: Charmed by his unexpected openness, I idiotically said that his excitement was refreshing, that it’s often the womenfolk who are more (publicly) excited about a new baby in the family. (He had seen the baby for the first time over thanksgiving and told the class about it in response to my enthralling discussion starter: “Hey guys, so how were your Thanksgivings?!?”). Of course no sooner had my words of manpraise made it halfway out of my mouth then I realized my gaffe. Two of the three other boys in the female-majority (19-5) class quickly chimed in, one by calling the niece-lover the dreaded "sensitive man," and a third by saying, sarcastically, the equivalent of, "You go, guy."
None of the young women in class seemed to feel the need to dis the fellow, though, and I’m sure some were charmed by his avuncular affection, which leads me to think that there are lots of girls who like boys who (and I write “girls” and “boys” here because, well, they’re 17 and 18, and I’m 42, and they seem more like boys and girls than men and women to me – so there) like little babies and are willing to say so. While the advertising world – as addressed in recent posts — may routinely, infuriatingly reinforce a rigid, cliched masculinity, it’s men who show that precious hint of sensitivity/vulnerability who often become our biggest stars. Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, Cary Grant, Tom Selleck, Ray Fiennes . . . heck, pick a dozen of your own. Even John Wayne had a distinctly gentle side. And of course, there’s always Jon Stewart.
In last week’s annual “Sexiest Man” edition of People, George Clooney, who packs an awesome wallop of rugged/sensitive with them eyes of his, won top slot for the second time, at the ripe old age of 45, which still gives me a few years to bring home the gold. But the really big news was that Stephen Colbert was tops in “Sexy Surprises” for ’06, about which he vamped and preened shamelessly, beautifully, on his TV show. For those of you somehow not in the loop, the Colbert Report (pronounced Coal-bear Reh-pour) is, more or less, a Fox-News-talk-show parody. Four nights a week, comic actor Stephen Colbert plays “Stephen Colbert,” neo-con/old-o-con demagogue, and, as such, brilliantly skewers right-wing TV windbags such as Bill O’Reilly. When he’s good, he’s very very good – when he’s not at his best, he’s still pretty darn awesome (for those three of you still without cable, you can watch snippets at comedycentral.com). But what’s most mysterious and elusive about Colbert and the show is that, even while portraying an absolute shit, Colbert somehow still manages to be downright charming, and yes, even, at times, sexy. Helping to solve the mystery of how he pulls this off was Joan Walsh in last week’s Salon.com, where Sexy Stephen topped their own list of the “Sexiest Men Living." Walsh writes:
It sneaks up on you, the idea that this geeky guy in glasses and overgelled hair mocking Bill O’Reilly and other TV blowhards every night is, well, hot. When it hits you, you’re sure you’re the only one who feels it. In fact, you start to believe you’re the only one he’s talking to, night after night. So many of his crazy jokes are just for you.
The women I’m closest to reiterated this, as did, if a tad reluctantly, a couple of heterosexual men (I’ve yet to poll my gay male and lesbian friends, but I’ll bet you dollars to donuts they’re a least a little tickled by Colbert as well.), and I realized it perfectly described Colbert’s seduction of me as well. Beneath the bluster of the fictive Stephen, there are little moments when “real” Stephen, through a squint, a smile, a sleazy wink that’s really not sleazy because you and only you know he’s being ironic and not at the same time, through something, he lets you, yes you, in on the secret that he’s really a nice man, a sensitive man, a man not the least bit blustery, and maybe even a little sexually ambiguous – he’s flirting with everyone because he loves us all, but especially you (or in my case, me!). The sensitivity inherent in this little breaking of character, of slipping a little, is almost always charming in small doses (See, for example, acting neophyte John Lurie in Stranger than Paradise, puckering so as not to break into a grin at inappropriate moments; or Harvey Korman from the Carol Burnett show, not much of an actor or comic, but quite endearing when he couldn’t keep it together in skits; or Johnny Carson, often losing it but always endearingly so when in character as Carmac et al). Colbert is a master of it. We want our men strong, but not too strong, and sensitive and vulnerable and intimate. Walsh continues:
Colbert’s allure comes from the physical comedy that’s always threatening to take over his body. From the prankish, mismatched ears to the cowlick that stands up no matter how much he gels his hair, he looks like he just can’t contain himself. That slightly feminine face in perpetual motion — eyebrows up, lips curled, eyes alight with a crazy joy that every once in a while seems to break character, for a split-second of intimacy, to say (only to me?): Yes, I know how hilarious this is! Plus, those large but graceful ever-moving hands!
Add in that touch of the kooky and mischievous, and you’ve got TV gold. And thus, in one year, Colbert has risen to almost equal the critical status and popularity of his mentor (and former employer) Stewart, which the two often joke about on screen when they chat for a moment between shows. Their faux tit-for-tat thirty-second segues from Stewart’s (unabashedly left-leaning) show to Colbert’s ostensibly right wing diatribe of an opening monolgue is often the best stuff of the hour. The two men seem to adore one another, and the rivalry seems both mock and a tad real and not too much of a threat to Stewart. Here’s hoping it remains so.
But stop the presses! As if People and Salon weren’t enough, S-to-the-C was just also named one of GQ’s men of the year too! (I know because he told me—er, us – last night.) Surprisingly Sexy Stephen can be seen right after the Daily Show at 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central , (with reruns at 1:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. most nights as well). Throw in South Park, and it’s worth the price of basic cable. Hmmm, masculinity in South Park? There’s a lot to work with there as well, without a doubt. Stay tuned.
