Bitcoin Forum

  Not quite traditional press so sorry if off-topic.

  [Will post some source once it's available]
  Here you go folks!  http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-april-17-2013-alan-cumming (http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-april-17-2013-alan-cumming)
  Alternative link at: http://www.vidhog.com/ix6wrlkcdbe0
  Alternative Canadian link at: http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheColbertReport?videoPackage=133456

  Bitcoin part starts at ~2:15 in and goes all the way to the end of the first segment at 9:00 - almost a full 7 minutes on Bitcoin so that's cool.  Too bad the press itself was not as great.

  Show will probably be up on their site in the coming days if it's not ripped to Youtube prior to that.

  Overall, the tone was joking and fairly mocking Bitcoin but what would one expect from a comedy show?  It could've been worse.

Kinda disappointing actually... maybe its just me, but the humor wasn't up to his usual levels.  And it hit all the bad points - "pyramid scheme", used for drugs, don't buy in whatever you do, wild price fluctuations, etc. etc. 

I love his comedy, but this one kinda left me wondering why he did such a long segment on it.  Seems he could have done better lampooning buying a pizza or alpaca socks, or play up the "gold for geeks" more.  Overall, for me, I'm just... disappointed.

Agreed.  Some press is better than none but yeah, that was too bad.

The journalist was the one that launched right into the "you can use it for shady things like drugs" part - and it wasn't possible to recover from there.

Colbert on the other hand, compared bitcoin to Joe Camel Bucks (cigarettes) and the Euro - which made me laugh a bit. He could've been so much worse toward it. I got the distinct impression that Colbert wasn't trying to lampoon it, but the speaker did it all for him.

Anyway, a few million people saw that - not including the re-plays when people check out their archived episodes... so... a mixed bag of win?

I haven't seen the video, but if we can get Colbert saying "do not buy bitcoin"  the community should try to get it viral.  Like a snakes on a plane video only more bitcoin.

can you be more revealing of your scheme?

Bitcoin was never gonna get a fair shake from this guy:


http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/08/project-shame-the-recovered-history-of-adam-davidson.html#rG2jUOJMyUoABtRf.99

Anyways I think, as you say, at this point, Bitcoin needs name recognition more than anything.  So as long as people hear the name and it registers somewhere in their brain, it's probably a good thing, regardess of what was specifically said.

sponsored by bank of america

FUck that guy.
Sent him a few words of my own.
Here is his email
adavidson.npr@gmail.com

Once again, comedy is wasted on bitcoiners. I loved it.

can't locate video yet...

i have not seen this yet, but NPR planet money did bring two very fair pieces on Bitcoin in their audio podcast. And they are also sponsored by banks.

Video is linked now in OP.  Enjoy.

I'll approve of the awesome Mithril for Nerds but sadly, the intro is about the coolest part... that's not saying much.

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-april-17-2013-alan-cumming (http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-april-17-2013-alan-cumming)

not impressed

 http://youtu.be/CRSUF63Z81M

I enjoyed it. They could have had a more knowledgable person interviewed, but this is still good news. Reaches an average audience of 1.9 million, with the majority being adults 18-49.

   
Dear 4twentyproductionz,

Your video "Bitcoin gets the Colbert 'bump'", may have content that is owned or licensed by Viacom. As a result, the video has been blocked on YouTube.

Visit your Copyright Notice page for more details on the policy applied to your video.

Sincerely,
- The YouTube Team

Always great to see Bitcoin in mainstream media.

Colbert has stated in the past, and I think he was being serious, that he was supportive of Ron Paul.
You be the judge. The whole video is worth watching but Ron Paul "endorsement" at about 1:05.
http://youtu.be/43hlXKg5FOo (http://youtu.be/43hlXKg5FOo)

Also, at the start of the above video he makes a joke about Ron Paul and gold and in last night's video he alluded to gold and intrinsic value. I suspect that Colbert probably understands a bit about sound money and may himself have libertarian leanings.

This spot wasn't entirely bad.  At least they pointed 'Bitcoin is money.'


Any speculative trader would have keyed in on the 260, 56, 100, 90 volatility, and if they are a risk taker, might come on board.

+1.
There is no such thing as bad publicity, and it's a comedy show after all.

E-mail sent... telling him to mention bitcoinstore.com next time he's asked what to spend bitcoins on.

I laughed a bit, but agree no need to mention drugs & porn... do we mention those for Euros and other currencies when discussed?

Have there been any statistics put together on industry dollars being spent?  So that we can put a nice chart to show that legitimate businesses are taking over illegal industries yet?

Has it ever been possible to order drugs from your own home without getting caught before by sending pseudo-anonymous internet fun bucks? It's a relevant topic, especially for the Colbert crowd (mostly libertarian college students).

"sorry but this video is unavailable from your location"  :(


"This video contains content from Viacom, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."  >:(

Please update OP with the one I watched from Korea: http://www.vidhog.com/ix6wrlkcdbe0

That was pretty funny

I think it was good. It seemed to me that Colbert was laughing at the guest because the guest was trying to downplay Bitcoin. Strangely, he did not feature someone who supports Bitcoin. Colbert position is very interesting regarding this. He was being very careful about what he said. Neither, did I hear any criticism from his side regarding the currency itself. His "closer" seemed to me as though he wanted to show that the guest's opinion was really of target and he actually accomplished that at least for me. Good news, Colbert is for it!

Updated, thanks.  Had no problem for me grabbing the official one but not everyone has the same viewing abilities. 

@Meow, agreed.

To me, this was a disguised thumbs-up for bitcoin from Colbert.

He kept Davidson off-guard the whole time by asking good questions.

This. Anyone who thinks this was bad should probably never try to promote Bitcoin to the general public because with your complete lack of social understanding you will do more harm than good.

Great mise-en-scène between the two. Very clever and fast. I laughed.

Oh, crap.  Just reminded me that NPR did a radio piece on Bitcoin and the reporter completely trashed Bitcoin.


What's ridiculous is that this reporter stated, "If you are the kind of person that has a headache thinking about the idea of 'What is money' then you shouldn't be involved in Bitcoin."  Going further the reporter stated, "If you are a reporter that that gets the same headache thinking about the concept of money you have no business reporting on Bitcoin."


After he completely trashes Bitcoin he outs himself by stating, "I am one of those reporters where my brain hurts when thinking about the concept of money."


So many conventional thinkers throwing stones in their glass houses.

All publicity is good publicity -- Anyone who hears about Bitcoin, even if in a negative connotation, has a chance to go online and do some of their own research. Those leaning libertarian enough will then decide to make an entrance.

The problem with ALL the Planet Money reporters is that they don't view Bitcoin as a currency, but rather a commodity. That's why its nothing but bash pieces coming out of NPR.

Canadian link, Bitcoin story starts at 02:12:

http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheColbertReport?videoPackage=133456

This was a complete thumbs-up from Colbert; if anything he was a little apprehensive because it goes too far.

First, he discloses his bias that 'I am heavily invested in something called Bitcoin'.

Dwarves = cypherpunk software tinkers
Mithril = cryptographic protocols which protect against an unlimited amount of violence (TrueCrypt, TOR, etc.)
Durin's Bane, Balroq = the completely free market or crypto-anarchy

He bashes fiat currency and the fractional reserve banking system; the Euro and GameStop.

He made complete fun of the volatility but played the one clip from a Bitcoin proponent that argued this was a long-term trend and not a fly by night fad. So did Colbert buy it early or at the height of the bubble?

Davidson played completely into Colbert's strategy for growing Bitcoin. How many of the 1.9m in Colbert's demographics are going to become Bitcoin users for Silk Road? And Colbert gets a use case of Bitcoin: 'Nobody buys drugs with a credit card man.' Then he lampoons NPR's relevance to the overall economy with 'If Bitcoin gets there (NPR) then we know Bitcoin has made it'.

What is money? Based on faith (subjective value theory).

He needed Davidson on to be the 'negative' side and he probably chose Davidson because he could easily manipulate him into answering the questions the way he wanted them answered.

So, overall, it looks like Colbert is a big Bitcoin proponent and laid out a very compelling case for it to his audience.

+1. I was expecting something really bad after seeing all the reviews. This was pretty good; I predict Colbert will have someone else on at some point who is positive toward Bitcoin. Gavin, perhaps? "So YOU'RE the Ben Bernanke of Bitcoin!"

Believe it or not, Colbert actually seemed pretty positive on Bitcoin here...

The devils advocate he played this time was seemingly on the side of Bitcoin.

Very exciting  ;)

Updated OP, thanks.

I predict that Colbert will mention the change in price that we are currently experiencing, and claim that is was caused by the 'Colbert bump'

If he does, I would consider it good press.

Does that mean that he will be investigated for promoting money laundering and drug trafficking? </sarcasm>

Backed by the full faith and credit of YouTube comments - brilliant :)

If price increase then it is due to the Gabi Bump  :D

lol, yeah, that was my favorite line.

I totally agree. Overall it was positive bitcoin publicity

Fair point.

Colbert bump to the moôn and back! :-)