'Number one, I believe in America. I believe it exists'

Eighteen years today since one of the greatest satirical bazookas ever fired. Stephen Colbert's White House Correspondent's Dinner speech, 29th April 2006.

Anyone who half read the news in 2006 remembers this speech. It was everywhere in its aftermath, just for its edge and its perfect delivery and its sheer brazenness. The Iraq war was consuming the attention of the world. Stephen Colbert, now a legend of entertainment and famous across the globe, then had the other show on Comedy Central after Jon Stewart. So when the speech aired, not everyone was initially aware he was playing a character — a right wing, Bush loving conservative ready to defend the president and his administration for its bold action in Iraq:

Madame First Lady, Mr. President, my name is Stephen Colbert and tonight it's my privilege to celebrate this president. We're not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book.

Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term.

There are no bad bits in this speech. Even the gags about SUVs and security details hit perfectly. This gushing metaphor slayed me too:

Okay, look, folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point in this presidency. I believe it is just a lull before a comeback. I mean, it's like the movie "Rocky." All right. The president in this case is Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed is -- everything else in the world. It's the tenth round. He's bloodied. His corner man, Mick, who in this case I guess would be the vice president, he's yelling, "Cut me, Dick, cut me!," and every time he falls everyone says, "Stay down! Stay down!" Does he stay down? No. Like Rocky, he gets back up, and in the end he -- actually, he loses in the first movie.

At the time we thought the world was in crisis, and the speech captures some of that. But the great, catastrophic divide in American politics was yet to come — the victory of pure stupidity wasn’t yet hand.

Watching this, you become aware why a thin skinned lightweight like Trump wouldn’t attend a White House Correspondents Dinner. Hats off to President Bush that he at least sat there and copped this.

You also realise why Colbert will retire as one of the greatest wits and comic voices of all time.

What a talent he is. What a way to announce yourself to the world.

Click here for full transcript, or read on below:

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Best wishes

Tony Wilson