Stephen Colbert finally drops a Google bomb

(Credit: Comedy Central)

Considering he's already pranked Wikipedia and weaseled his way into online polls aplenty, here at News.com we're actually kind of surprised that Comedy Central talk show host Stephen Colbert took this long to instigate a self-promoting "Google bombing" campaign.

Google bombing, in case you're unfamiliar, is a method of directing mass links that contain a particular line of text to a certain site, which then bolsters that site's ranking on Google when that line of text is used as a search query. The most famous Google bomb was probably "miserable failure," which directed to George W. Bush's presidential biography for quite some time before Google switched a few algorithms around in order to eliminate the verbal pranks.

Well, sorry, Google, you've got another "bomber" on your hands, and this one has an insane pack of followers behind him. Earlier this week, Colbert announced on his late-night show, The Colbert Report, that he wanted to rank first on Google's search results for the phrase "giant brass balls." (A tad lewd, yes.) Colbert-idolizing bloggers, however, thought that just wasn't good enough, and decided to try to put him at the top of Google's hierarchy for the phrase "Greatest Living American."

The power of crowds worked, apparently, as a search for "Greatest Living American" now directs to the official Colbert Report Web site, ColbertNation.com. But it might not be there permanently; Google might have to invent a new "algorithm" specifically for Colbert. Unfortunately, that'd probably just inflate his ego even more.

[dakotta]

smile

All I can say is Stephen Colbert makes me smile.

[enovikoff]

Colbert = inflated ego? Hah!

If being able to speak truth when the entire media, the whole government, and at least half the population of the country has their head in the sand about what this nation is doing, then I say let more of us have inflated egos like Colbert's!

What really gets me is how many rightie fundies quote him, in all seriousness. Clearly, they don't understand what he's talking about. It just goes to show, as we have seen in Iraq and Iran, that fundamentalism is a disease that eats the higher centers of the brain for lunch.

[ghostofitpast]

Absurdity and ridicule: our strongest weapons

A friend of mine who was born in Peru once told me, when we were talking about the magical realism movement in literature, that absurdity was the only weapon writers had against oppressive governments. He claimed that the leaders of such governments were so obsessed with their hold on power that they never seemed to "get" the messages in the subtexts of absurdist writings. This may explain that "rightie fundies" phenomenon. Similarly, V FOR VENDETTA taught that ridicule can bring down oppression more effectively than reasoned logic. If we are going to lash out against the mess in which the world's leadership (not just our own country's and not just government but also corporate) has put us, then absurdity and ridicule are probably our best weapons; and Colbert may be the best person to lead the charge!

[coryschulz]

What would we do without Stephen?

He definitely makes this world a better place and fills a gap that has remained empty for way too long. I feel he is one of the few people who actually deserves all of the praise that he and his fans give himself. Infact, he probably deserves more...

Go Stephen!!!

[kalistes]

YES!!!!

The only thing more cool than this story is that I found the headline on a google widget!

Google, you truly are eneagles!

[prequarius]

Whose balls are more "huge-er?"

if you type in "huge balls" in google you get maddox's beloved page. would this conflict with the greatest web page in the universe? will maddox write something funyn about this? we will have to wait and see.

[jalaspr]

Ego?

Ego? Here's a reality check... the Colbert you see on that show is *a character*. Might as well call the police next time you see Anthony Hopkins... he might be plotting to eat your liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti.

[caroline.mccarthy]

ah, yes, but the difficulty

is that Anthony Hopkins doesn't play a liver-eating fictional character named Anthony Hopkins. Next time I'll make sure I'm clear when I'm referring to Stephen Colbert the comedian versus Stephen Colbert the talk show host who's played by Stephen Colbert the comedian.