I can’t believe that on the first new show of the year, The Colbert Report devoted a valuable chunk of time to another Tek Jansen cartoon. Is there a secret Tek Jansen fan cult out there that’s seeing things the rest of us don’t see? I mean, I get that the whole Tek Jansen thing is a parody of Those Who Trespass in particular, and people who create super-perfect fictionalized versions of themselves in general. I liked the Tek Jansen joke when it was first introduced. But the cartoons themselves are (to me) just not funny, and they bring any episode they’re in to a screeching and expensive halt. They seem detached from the humour of the rest of the show; even though the Colbert writers work on them, they don’t incorporate many of the Colbert character’s own quirks and obsessions. Which loses the point of the Colbert character using sci-fi to get revenge on his enemies and make himself into a hero, and just makes the cartoons into duller versions of Adult Swim shows.
Oh, well, at least the non-Tek portions of last night’s episode gave me my new favourite catchphrase: “Hamburger, you’re good!”