Who Made Huckabee?

Colbert holding a Peabody Award and giving a thumbs up
Conan smiling
Stewart with arms folded, smiling
Huckabee speaking at a lectern
Colbert (top left), O'Brien (top right), and Stewart (bottom left) had an ongoing comical feud over who was responsible for Huckabee's (bottom right) surge in polls.
This article is part of a series about
Mike Huckabee
  • Governor of Arkansas
  • Presidential campaigns

Who Made Huckabee?, also known as the Colbert/O'Brien/Stewart feud, refers to a mock rivalry that occurred among late night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien and Jon Stewart in early 2008, reportedly over who was responsible for then–presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's success in the presidential primaries.[1]

In reality, however, the feud was concocted by the three comedians as a result of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.[2] Without writers to fuel their banter, the three comedians staged a crossover/rivalry in order to fill airtime and garner more viewers during the ratings slump.[3] Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump" in popularity which results from guest appearances on his show,[4] he was responsible for recurring guest Huckabee's success in the 2008 Iowa caucus. O'Brien claimed he was responsible for cable personality Colbert's success because he mentioned Colbert on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, a broadcast network show, and by extension was behind the success of Huckabee. In response, Stewart claimed he was responsible for O'Brien's original success, since Stewart featured him on The Jon Stewart Show in the early 1990s.

As the feud escalated, O'Brien, Colbert and Stewart each put forward increasingly farcical reasons he was responsible for Huckabee's success, insulting their rivals in the process. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle between the three faux-pundits, with all three appearing on each other's shows on the same night. The feud ended on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with a tongue-in-cheek "all-out brawl" between the three talk-show hosts.[3]

Reaction to the "feud" by both the public and the media was mostly positive. TV Squad's Annie Wu wrote: "With the three hosts appearing on each other's shows all on one night, it was special appearances galore. It became a clash of the Titans, a battle of epic proportions, a heaping helping of Monday fanservice."[5] Even so, the three comedians "shared a certain comedic sensibility",[3] and admitted that they had a good time while helping each other out. O'Brien said: "It certainly helped that all three of us [were] in a period of our careers where we're looking for content."[2]

  1. ^ Gomez, Fin (February 6, 2008). "Who Created Huckabee? Conan, Stewart, and Colbert Fight it Out". Fox News. Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nyt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Conan, Stewart, Colbert unite in TV feud Archived September 30, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. The Associated Press. Retrieved on February 5, 2008.
  4. ^ Fowler, James H. (July 2008). "The Colbert Bump in Campaign Donations: More Truthful than Truthy" (PDF). PS: Political Science & Politics. 41 (3): 533–539. doi:10.1017/s1049096508080712. S2CID 153952070. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 4, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference tv squad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).