The Colbert Report: Funny. One of the best things on television. In many cases, above reproach. There are some things that are too good to last and, honestly, I think this may be one of them. The show has been firing on all cylinders for too long and it's burned through a thousand great ideas. I figured the dual, same day, interviews on The Colbert Report and The O'Reilly Factor were going to prove to be the "departure point." Now the producers have somehow coaxed Sean Penn to face the host in a "Metaphor Off" during tonight's installment. How long can a show keep topping itself and keep up the pace of being flippin' hilarious four nights a week? I figure it will all come crashing down by the end of the year when either the staff reaches burnout or Colbert is offered a lucrative network or movie deal.

Or not. Here's hoping the show has a lot of life left in it. Anyway, that's a long preamble for a post about ice cream. Sorry about that.

A few weeks ago, I went in search of the show's official ice cream. When Ben and Jerry showed up on the Colbert Report last month to debut a flavor inspired by Colbert himself, I figured it was a gag. It dawned on me a few days later when I saw something about it on the internet.

Two Fred Meyers and one New Seasons later, I found a single pint left at my neighborhood Albertsons. "Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream" did indeed exist and it's popular around here. During a show a few weeks ago, Colbert proudly announced it was now the company's best selling flavor. A quick search on the Ben and Jerry's site, however, says the top flavor is still "Cherry Garcia." I couldn't find anything else on the internet besides Colbert's words to back up the claim.

(Possibly) empty boasts aside, the stuff is pretty good. You might assume that patriotic ice cream should consist of raspberry (red), vanilla (white) and blueberry (der, blue) flavors but what about ironically patriotic ice cream? Instead of all that, "AmeriCone Dream" is made up of vanilla ice cream, caramel and chunks of chocolate-covered waffle cone bits. If you were to take a Drumstick, scrape off the peanuts and toss it into a blender, this is what it probably taste like. What's more all-American than a Drumstick, at least as far as prepackaged, ice-cream based desserts go?

At the very least, it's 40 - 60% more patriotic than Willie Nelson's new flavor. Yeah, that's after figuring in the recall. Apparently, it was all part of a FBI conspiracy to harass ol' Willie, doncha know.

Labels: dessert, television