On the August 10, 2006 episode of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert was shown jumping around in front of a greenscreen with a lightsaber. This footage was subsequently edited by fans and their results were posted all over the Internet. Colbert featured some of these clips on the August 21 episode and issued the "Greenscreen Challenge" to his viewers — a contest to see who can make the best video from footage originally filmed during that August 10 episode.
When indie rock band The Decemberists shot a music video in front of a greenscreen and asked people to finish the video, Colbert challenged them for copying his idea and started a second green screen challenge. It called on the fans to edit Stephen Colbert into The Decemberists' unfinished music video. In response, the Decemberists then challenged Colbert to a guitar solo challenge.
On December 20, 2006, Chris Funk, lead guitarist for The Decemberists, came to the show for the guitar solo challenge. Peter Frampton then came on and played a solo for Colbert. A panel of three judges, New York governor Eliot Spitzer, Rock critic Anthony DeCurtis, and our very own department chair, Jim Anderson, voted on whose solo they thought was the best.
This episode of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central has been nominated for a 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program.
