Posts tagged COLBERT treadmill

Greetings, Zoners. It’s hard to believe that our fun here is drawing to a close, but the Rapture waits for no one. It’s time for me to wrap up my tenure as a Completist, then pack for the Rapture. (We can take stuff with us, right? Because I’m totally taking my Flatpoint High t-shirt and my Colbert Report “C” hat.) I’ve had an amazing time here, both as a Zoner and a Completist, and while I’m sad it’s ending, I’ll be leaving with some fantastic memories.

It’s been a challenge this week to try to decide what I should choose as my favorite show, or segment, or interview to highlight in my final post. I think the reason it’s so difficult for me to choose a “favorite” anything is because all of it is so brilliantly funny. I love it all, from the major highlights like the Iraq shows and the Vancouver Olympics Quadrennial Cold Weather Athletic Competition, to those little unexpected moments of hilarity, like character breaks, prop failures, and the f-bombs that inevitably follow the prop failures. Stephen makes me laugh myself silly four nights a week, and I’m convinced all that laughter is why I’m still mostly sane.

There are so many wonderful things to recall from my time here on NFZ, but one of my favorite memories as a Completist is following Stephen’s love affair with NASA, from the Node 3 naming contest, to the interviews with astronauts on the International Space Station, to the unique honor of having a space treadmill named after him, and finally getting that call from NASA to head to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for astronaut training. Stephen makes no secret of the fact that he’s a space geek, and it’s delightful to see how much he loves anything that brings him into contact with the space program. As he told us himself, his fascination with space goes back to his childhood and his historic broadcast of the first moon landing, so it must have been truly exciting for him to have the treadmill named after him and to have the opportunity to go through the same training the astronauts do.

The three “Fallback Position: Astronaut” segments that resulted from his trip to Houston are wonderful to watch, for a few reasons. They’re a great example of Stephen’s outstanding improv skills; they give us a chance to see him try out his namesake treadmill; and really, how freakin’ cool was it to watch Stephen land the shuttle successfully in a simulation? And it doesn’t hurt at all that the orange jumpsuit is actually a good look for him. As a fellow space geek, I was so excited for him to have this opportunity to be an astronaut for a day and to make the most of it for our entertainment.

There’s so much I could say about my experience as a Completist, but nothing sums it up better than simply saying that it’s been an amazing two years. To all the Zoners, thank you for the support you’ve given to all of us, and to me personally. I love what we’ve shared together here — all the laughs, the serious discussions, the Urgent Fangirl Bulletins, and most importantly, our love and appreciation for Stephen. To my fellow Completists, you guys are the best. Thanks to all of you for your help, your support, and your friendship. To DB, I can’t express enough my appreciation to you for giving me the opportunity to be part of the NFZ team. The past two years have had some incredible highs, and I’ll always look back on it as a special and unique time in my life. And finally, to Stephen, thank you for sharing your joy with us. This was all inspired by you, and I’m so grateful to have been a part of it.

And now, because I’d rather go out with a laugh, I’ll close out this post with a random bit of silliness I put together a while back to entertain myself and the other Completists. It uses one of my favorite pictures of Stephen, which I love because it’s so completely ridiculous and so completely “Stephen.” (You’re welcome, ladies!)

Peace and love to all. I’ll see you around the Interwebs!

Original Article