Stephen Colbert’s GOP Debate and More Political Jokes Turned Causes

Stephen Colbert really wants the South Carolina Republican primary named after him, and, like any champion of capitalism, he’s willing to pay for it. “We would finally raise democracy to the same level as the Tostitos™ Fiesta Bowl and Kardashian™ weddings,” he wrote in The State, upping his offer to $500,000. Colbert is clearly joking, but Republicans took him seriously enough to entertain the offer. And well they should: Colbert’s jokes have a way of turning serious once his fans throw their weight behind them. After all, the super PAC he would use to pay for the primary started as a joke. From his 2008 presidential bid to his campaign for a corporate personhood referendum, Colbert has a history of satire that takes on real political life.