Stephen Colbert is a National Treasure
You may have heard that Stephen Colbert’s portrait graced the halls of the Smithsonian Institution earlier this year. Situated just past the “America’s Presidents” exhibit, it hung right outside the bathrooms on the second floor of the National Portrait Gallery. The less than optimal positioning, however, did not stop record crowds from paying homage to the portrait until it was removed in April.
Image Stephen Colbert Portrait uploaded to Flickr by Mr. T in DC
Last week, Colbert finally got the news he’d been hoping for when Brent Glass, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History paid a visit to Colbert’s TV show, The Colbert Report. Glass announced that the museum would accept Colbert’s portrait into its collection.
Colbert had his own view as to why Glass had a change of heart. “I did boffo box office, I drove their numbers. You want a little taste of that. That Colbert bump is what you want.” Mr. Glass did not disagree but the good news for all of us is that the Colbert portrait is back in the Smithsonian and you can see it when the National Museum of American History re-opens on November 21.
Until then, check out this video that Smithsonian Channel put together immediately following its hanging in the National Portrait Gallery back in January.
This video was also picked up in the DCist and No Fact Zone. Be sure to check them out for more info.
Also a shout out to the Colbert fans who posted:
UPDATE: WE just spotted some chatter about Colbert and the Smithsonian that we thought we should share:
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