YouTube’s biggest star was on Stephen Colbert tonight — and the segment was actually pretty good. Really, I’d say that Colbert gave Jimmy Kimmel a master class in how to cover the phenomenon that is Let’s Plays. Going in, Colbert immediately poked fun at television, calling it a “steam-powered medium” — and Pewdiepie talked about how, personally, he never actually watches TV.
This of course is not uncommon for people who are as young as Pewdiepie, but it was refreshing to acknowledge this reality without berating it. Colbert also gave props to Pewdiepie’s immense success. Contrast that with Kimmel’s awful coverage of YouTube, which came off as an out-of-touch dude who didn’t get YouTube but was intent on making fun of it and the people who enjoy it anyway. Colbert not only did his homework, he sounded like he had respect for YouTubers and what they do. It’s an approach that requires confidence.
“I want to thank the internet for allowing their emperor to be here for the evening,” Colbert joked.
Colbert pulled all of this off…while still poking fun at YouTube, too. Because lets face it: being able to yell at video games is a pretty ridiculous concept. Pewdiepie said Let’s Plays allowed people to pretend they were sitting on a couch with a friend, and Colbert joked that the difference was that they would never get the controller. Kimmel’s schtick pointed out the very same thing, but Colbert managed to hit that note without also shitting on the audience. It didn’t feel mean. It was just funny.
The key here was in how Colbert approached the entire thing. There was one point, for example, where he showed a clip of Pewdiepie hooting and hollering at game footage. It would have been really easy to talk down to Pewdiepie then and there. Instead the footage spoke for itself. Maybe you think it’s awesome. Maybe you think it’s ridiculous. Its up for you to decide. Colbert didn’t tell you how to feel, he just joked that, if Pewdiepie plays games for a living, then what is he supposed to do for fun?
You can watch some of the segment in the clip below — it’s not the entire thing that aired last night, but at the very least you’ll hear Pewdiepie talk about Swedish swear words. Heh.
Or, if you’d like to watch the entire segment in full, you can look at what people have uploaded to YouTube — just be warned, the quality can be kind of poor.
Comments
10 responses to “Stephen Colbert Interviews Pewdiepie, Nails It”
Jimmy Kimmel is not up to cleaning Colberts’ shoes.
Colbert >>>> Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel made fun of something, get the fuck over it already.
Relax…
Sorry, I’m just taking a cue from Kotaku here and not getting over it either.
Yeah, well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.
Seriously though, Tumblr time on Kotaku doesn’t paint the best picture of the industry being able to take criticism.
Seriously people need to get over the jimmy Kimmel thing. It was a joke. Let’s stop pretending that watching watching lets plays are beyond being made fun of.
Look i understand that pewdiepie is a huge part of gaming culture etc. But is patricia employed as a fangirl writer of him and kotaku just are like whatever?
Oh hey patricia we need you to have a look at the indie games….
Nah im writing about pewdiepie. Hes doing something and hes just so great everyone needs to know about it
Why are you all so sour today? Pewds is great, Colbert is great. Why are you all so angry and not great?
I watched pewdiewatever for 5 secs and didn’t get it, I really didn’t pickup what he was putting down, not for me I guess.
Yeah, articles like this is why Patricia Hernandez is openly and accurately mocked on the internet – to the point of it being basically impossible to tell if it’s her writing or someone doing a fab impersonation. This is sad beyond sadness.