''I Am America (And So Can You!)'' is a 2007 satirical book by American comedian

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

and the writers of ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

''. It was released on October 9, 2007, with the audiobook edition released several days earlier. The book is loosely structured around the fictional life story of

as he appears on ''The Colbert Report''. , the book had been on the ''New York Times'' Bestseller List in the Hardcover Nonfiction category for twenty-four weeks, ranking number one for fourteen of them.

Description

''I Am America (And So Can You!)'' is described as being a "pure extension" of ''The Colbert Report'', delving into the views of Colbert's "well-intentioned, poorly informed high status idiot" character on what he considers to be the most pressing issues facing

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The book is influenced by the literary endeavors of the character's pundit models, such as Bill O'Reilly's book, ''

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

'' (2000) and

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

's '' Deliver Us From Evil'' (2004), which Colbert says he forced himself to read as a reference. Red

margin Margin may refer to: Physical or graphical edges *Margin (typography), the white space that surrounds the content of a page * Continental margin, the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust *Leaf ...

notes appear throughout the book, providing humorous reactions and counterpoints to Colbert's arguments in a style comparable to the ''Report''s " The Wørd" segment. The cover features a sticker depicting a burning book, declaring ''I Am America'' to be a nominee for "The Stephen T. Colbert Award for the Literary Excellence". A sheet of twelve similar stickers are provided inside, with which readers are provided to nominate other books for the award. A second sheet of stickers containing positive expressions such as "Hell Yeah!", "Nailed It!" and "It's Morning In Colbert-ica" is included for readers as bookmarks to remind them "when you agreed with me most."Colbert, Stephen (2007). ''I Am America (And So Can You!)''. New York:

Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

. Colbert, whose character frequently used his show to advertise his own satirical products, frequently promoted ''I Am America'' at the time of its release, including in a commercial which depicted the book emerging from an erupting volcano in a manner similar to commercials for '' Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health''. On October 9, 2007, the day of the book's release, Colbert interviewed himself as the show's featured guest. On ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

'', he signaled that his book was testing waters for a Presidential run, much like other politicians.

Audiobook cast and crew

Himself A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its Antecedent (grammar), antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and ref ...

and as Gil Honeycomb, oldest man in the world (ch. 2, Stephen Speaks For Me) *

Amy Sedaris Amy Louise Sedaris (; born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She played Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central comedy series '' Strangers with Candy'' (1999–2000) and the prequel film '' Strangers with Candy'' (2005), wh ...

as Dolores Grierson, old maid (ch. 1, Stephen Speaks For Me) * Raymond Whitman as Young Stephen (ch. 2, seven-year-old's note) * Evelyn McGee as Cow #L73NR, a cow (ch. 3, Stephen Speaks For Me) * Paul Gilmartin as God, maker of all that is seen and unseen (ch. 4, Stephen Speaks For Me) *

Kevin Dorff Kevin Dorff (born August 2, 1966) is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a writer and sketch performer on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and '' The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'', the former of which he won a Primetime Em ...

as The Guy Sitting Next to You at The Stadium (chs. 5 and 13, Stephen Speaks For Me) * Allison Silverman as Your Soulmate (ch. 6, Stephen Speaks For Me) * Paul Dinello as Austin, a formerly gay man (ch. 7, Stephen Speaks For Me) * Brian Stack as Dr. Bernard Brunner, distinguished professor (ch. 8, Stephen Speaks For Me) and as Thomas Bindlestaff, executive assistant to Mr. Stephen Colbert (ch. 11, Stephen Speaks For Me) *

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...

as Mort Sinclaire, former TV comedy writer and Communist (ch. 9, Stephen Speaks For Me) * Greg Hollimon as Rev. George A. Lewis, ex-civil rights leader (ch. 12, Stephen Speaks For Me) *Paul Dinello - producer/director responsible for the book's abridging *John McElroy - producer

Awards

The audiobook was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes: * In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word * From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Perform ...

in 2009. The award was ultimately won by

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

and his book on

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

, the companion book to the film ''

An Inconvenient Truth ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former vice president of the United States Al Gore's campaign to educate people about Climate change, global warming. The film features a slide s ...

''.

References

External links

Official book website

Audio excerpt
{{The Colbert Report 2007 books Audiobooks by title or series Political satire books The Colbert Report Books by Stephen Colbert

Description

Audiobook cast and crew

Awards

See also

References

External links