In 2011, Colbert created the Colbert Super PAC to raise money from fans, but more importantly as a way to poke fun at issues like Citizens United, corporate money in elections, and shadow organizations that pump out attack ads for political candidates. Colbert Super PAC paid for ads for a “Rick Parry” during the Iowa Caucus and most recently transferred ownership into the hand of Jon Stewart, so that Colbert could make a run during the South Carolina GOP primary.

During that time, the Super PAC changed names to the “Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC.”

But after it was over, Jon Stewart didn’t want to give back control of the PAC. It’s been a running gag on the two Comedy Central shows for the past couple of weeks. But last night, Colbert finally got it back. Check it out:

All of this is a bit (and funny as hell), but we shouldn’t forget that the Colbert Super PAC is real and it actually raised a bunch of money. But how much money?

That was disclosed on Tuesday, as the Super PAC officially filed a report with the Federal Elections Committee disclosing their financials. According to Colbert, this move shows his “deep commitment to transparency” by “disclosing [the information] several hours before being legally required to.”

The big number? $1,023,121.24.

“Colbert Super PAC has brought in a staggering $1,023,121.24, which my accountant explains to me that is a number far above ‘one,’ ‘two,’ ‘five,’ or even ‘many’” said Stephen Colbert, President and Returning Champion of Colbert Super PAC. “We raised it on my show and used it to materially influence the elections – in full accordance with the law. It’s the way our founding fathers would have wanted it, if they had founded corporations instead of just a country.”

Here’s the text from the actual filing, as it proves that even in legal documents Colbert retains his edge:

The FEC filing also disclosed the names of everyone who donated over $200 to the Super PAC. As Reuters found, one notable name was California’s Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, who contributed $500.

Colbert takes the stance that anything you need on the internet, he can provide. So what if reddit is blacked out? A certain photoshopped picture featuring a few of reddit’s favorite things will surely suffice.

Check out his take on the legislation below:

John Stewart, on the other hand, readily admits that he needs to do a little homework on SOPA and PIPA. He demonstrates this by looking up SOPA on Wikipedia only to find…well, you probably see where this is going:

Until recently, Colbert and Stewart had been less vocal about the topic than many on the internet desired. A top post on reddit about a week ago was from a redditor who said they attended a taping of The Daily Show and asked Jon Stewart to look into SOPA. On that night’s episode, he briefly mentioned the legislation at the beginning of the broadcast.

Driven by yesterday’s massive web protest, both Colbert and Stewart were basically compelled to devote large chunks of their shows to SOPA.

How do you think they did? Let us know in the comments.

There are generally two camps when discussing this issue. One side makes the argument we need to include all forms of celebration and not let others feel left out, while the other side says they should lighten up. South Park has tackled this issue in one of my favorite episodes; masterfully stating that if we take out everything about this time of year which could potentially offend someone then we’re left with nothing.

Stephen Colbert, another Comedy Central staple has now voiced his opinion on the subject, the only way he knows how – with comedy, guns, and clips from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Enjoy.

Expanding on the video, I made a visit to the Scottsdale Arizona Gun Club website, to see if there’s more to the website and how they plan on getting into the spirit of the season. I wasn’t disappointed.

Here you can see the full ad for the “Holiday Picture With Santa & His Machine Guns!” special. Where you and your family can get a photo with Santa with a plethora of various guns. Personally, I’d want the mounted machine gun in my photo.

Not only can you get a photo taken with Santa, and an assault rifle, but they have a 12 Days of Christmas sale as well. Where you can get that special loved one their very own “Machine Gun Adventure“.

I hope everyone reading this has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Hopefully you wake up on the morning of December 25th and receive everything you want, with some egg-nog and fun times with family as well. For those who are looking for that last minute gift idea for me, a grenade launcher attached M16 would really put me in the holiday spirit.

On last night’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert gave his respects to Jobs with a bit that traced his excitement over various Apple products through the years.

He closes by remembering the brief communication that he had with Jobs, a short email following his appearance at the Grammy Awards. Check out Colbert saying goodbye to the icon with a rare break in character -

As the show closed, Colbert also gave this simple iPhone-themed tribute to Jobs:

On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart talked about his numerous interactions with Jobs, praising him for always being generous with his time. Stewart laments that the world lost Jobs way too soon, before we had time to extract a little more of his genius. Check it out:

What do you think about these tributes? What are the best tributes to Jobs that you’ve seen in the past couple of days? Let us know in the comments.

Ok, Rick Perry might not have his support, but Rick Parry sure does. Yes, that is “Parry” with an “A,” for America.

A new video was released today on the Colbert Super PAC website. If you haven’t been following Stephen Colbert and his political action committee, here’s the short version: The Federal Elections Committee, in a 5 to 1 vote, granted Colbert the right to form the Super PAC which is different from a regular PAC. He has the right to raise unlimited contributions to throw behind any candidate he chooses. For more, a wiki has already been created about Colbert’s project.

The new “ad” revels in all the cheesy things that make a great campaign ad great – voiceovers, dramatic music, images of families, American flags, slow motion. It’s all there.

He asks Iowa straw poll voters to write in the candidate Rick Parry on August 13th. The real Rick Perry can’t be too thrilled with this.

“Outside groups like Jobs For Iowa Super PAC are trying to pander to Iowans with pro-Perry ads featuring cheap corn-ography – that your kids could see.”

This is Colbert Super PAC’s second campaign video. The first was released on Wednesday. Check it out below –

Everyone the comes on the Colbert Report is said to receive the “Colbert Bump,” a jump is popularity following the appearance. Could this have the opposite effect for Texas Governor Rick Perry?

This time, it was epic.

First, the background.  If you don’t know, there has been a political struggle going on for some time now regarding the budget.  Back and forth, back and forth like a tennis match, except much more strenuous on the watcher than the participants.  One bone of contention has been the funding of Planned Parenthood.

On Tuesday, the Republican junior Senator from Arizona Jon Kyl said something on the Senate floor that raised eyebrows.  He said that over 90% of Planned Parenthood’s activities consist of abortions.  The actual number, confirmed by the organization, is closer to 3%.

As soon as Jon Kyl misspoke, his staffers presumably went into damage control mode because hours later, they issued a statement on his behalf.  The statement said that the figures Jon Kyl had quoted about Planned Parenthood were “not intended to be a factual statement.”

This crafty response was obviously picked up by most news outlets and it dominated the news cycle that night.  Satirist and Colbert Nation leader Stephen Colbert was no exception.  He jumped on Senator Kyl and the next day began to flood Twitter with absurd and painfully funny lies about Kyl, always followed by the hashtag #notintendedtobeafactualstatement.

The twitterverse exploded.

Now, I’ve written this article as straight as I can.  I’ve tried to leave out all political bias and simply state what happened.  Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican – a anarchist or a communist – left or right – blue or red – or anywhere outside and in between, most of us will agree that this is some funny stuff.

Here are a couple of my favorite Colbert tweets:

Using Trendistic, a site that measures Twitter trends, Wednesday night at midnight was the prime time for tweets with #notintendedtobeafactualstatement.  That hour, .13% of all tweets contained that hashtag.  When you think about all the tweets that are sent out in an hour, that amounts to a good chunk.

Of course, tweets with that hashtag have waned, but even a whole day after Colbert stopped talking about it, people are still tweeting wildly about it.  In an incredibly unscientific experiment, I have concluded that at the hour of this article’s posting, around 600 new tweets will contain that hashtag.

Two of my favorite user generated tweets are “John Kyl likes to give kids stubble burns” and “Jon Kyl turned down the role of Zoolander.”

Of course, these are followed by #notintendedtobeafactualstatement.  If you don’t include that, well, then you’re just lying.

This doesn’t seem to signal a complete estrangement between the two companies; in fact, Hulu’s Andy Forssell wrote on the corporate blog, "[W]e are continuing to talk to the Comedy Central folks about a number of opportunities.  They’re a great team and I’m confident that we’ll be working with them in multiple ways in the future."

Also, Hulu will direct users who search for the affected programs to TheDailyShow.com and TheColbertReport.com, two Comedy Central properties that will continue to make clips available for free.

Still, it’s hard to imagine that this would have occurred if both parties were completely satisfied.  Perhaps Comedy Central wasn’t impressed by the size of Hulu’s audience.  Or maybe they couldn’t agree over a revenue split.  Either way, it’s a fact that Hulu’s trying to obtain more content, not shrink its existing library.

Hulu execs must be hoping that the site doesn’t lose too many viewers due to this loss, and praying that the development doesn’t represent the start of a trend.

The new ColbertNation.com site features more than 2,800 video clips dating back to the launch of the popular comedy program in 2005.

"I’m thrilled with our new Web site. I only wish John McCain knew how to get there," said Colbert.

The sites aims to be a hub for all things Colbert and features links to Colbert related gossip online. On the home page, users can find information about upcoming guests, special events and on air stunts like the "Green Screen Challenges."

The homepage also displays the most recently posted videos, the shows "Better Know a District" feature, a Facebook application inviting users to become a friend of The Colbert Report, and a ticket request form for attending the taping of the program.

Visitors to the site can also access specific segments of the show like "The Word" and "Better Know a District" or they can customize their own search by combining tags. All clips are available to be viewed in full screen, and can be embedded on blogs and shared with others.

The most recent episodes will be available in their original on air format with limited commercials.

The launch of the site is sponsored by Infiniti and MasterCard.

"The re-launch of ColbertNation.com unites Stephen’s fan community with the show’s complete video archives," said Erik Flannigan, executive vice president, digital media, Comedy Central.

"I look forward to more digital escapades from the Nation as Stephen continues to connect with his audience through the new Web site."
 

Colbert received the award for the innovative way he has used the Internet to interact with fans of  "The Colbert Report." Some of his stunts include encouraging fans to Google bomb to make him the top search result for the phrase "greatest living American" and challenging the "truthiness" of Wikipedia.

In his presidential campaign, the "One Million Strong for Stephen T. Colbert" Facebook group brought in more than 78 members per minute in its first week.

Other winners in the 12th Annual Webby Awards, known as the "Oscars of the Internet" include Black Eyed Peas’ frontman, songwriter will.i.am who won for "Artist of the Year," and French filmmaker Michel Gondry received the title of "Video Person of the Year."

The Webby awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-person judging academy. The winners will be honored at ceremonies on June 9th and 10th in New York, and in keeping with Webby tradition they will be limited to five-word acceptance speeches.

Other Webby Award winners include, NYTimes.com, The Onion, PostSecret, National Geographic, Apple.com, Flickr, FactCheck.org, BBC, Ted.com and ESPN.com.