Stephen Colbert uses his Lord of the Rings obsession to solve Turkey's shameful president vs. Gollum case
As Steve Martin said in The Jerk, all of us have a "special purpose." Stephen Colbert has found his. In Turkey, a doctor named Bilgin Ciftci lost his job and is facing jail time for posting online photos of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alongside ones of the Lord of the Rings character Gollum (sort of — see the video), and the judge in the case admitted he hasn't seen the movies or read J.R.R. Tolkien's books. Colbert has — all of them, several times — and he wants to help, he said on Tuesday's Late Show.
"Folks, when I spent my entire teenage years reading all of Tolkien — not just The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings," Colbert said, getting a little proudly obscure, "I knew I was preparing myself for something important. Why else would I ignore all my classwork, abandon sports, and achieve a paleness I have yet to shake off, if not to arm myself for a moment of heroism?" Colbert is such an expert, in fact, that Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings movies, has crowned him lord of the Tolkien geeks, Colbert said with little mock humility.
And if Ankara needs a Lord of the Rings expert, "I hereby volunteer my services to explain to the Turkish court why this man is innocent of a crime that shouldn't be illegal anyway," Colbert said. Since he doesn't have time to fly to Turkey, he said — "we have Bruce Willis on Thursday" — "I'm going to save this man's life right here, in the courtroom of being on television." And as if unabashed Tolkien geekdom isn't enough, Colbert showed off an uncanny Gregory Peck impersonation, defending Ciftci in character as Atticus Finch in the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is seriously a tour de force. Are you watching, Turkey? Either way, you can watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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