I Am America (And So Can You!)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

I Am America (And So Can You!) is a Satire, Parody, Pastiche of self-help books, written by Stephen Colbert and the cast of The Colbert Report.

Compare America (The Book) and Earth (The Book), by Colbert's rivals from The Daily Show.

Tropes used in I Am America (And So Can You!) include:


  • Acting for Two: In the audiobook, Stephen Colbert (the actor) plays both Stephen Colbert (the character) and Gil Honeycomb from one of the "Stephen Speaks For Me" segments.
  • Alt Text: The book has red notes in the margins, like the "The Word" segments on The Colbert Report.
  • Bluenose Bowdlerizer: Colbert praises the efforts of censors and claims that contrary to some prevalent opinions, censorship encourages creativity. For example, writing "Flip you, codbucket" takes more imagination than the more obvious, profane alternative.
  • Camp Straight: Austin, the former homosexual from one of the "Stephen Speaks For Me" sections.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: The Guy Sitting Next To You At The Stadium. And wouldn't you know it, he's in two "Stephen Speaks For Me" sections.
  • Comically Missing the Point
  • Dirty Communists: Mort Sinclair, the communist TV writer from one of the "Stephen Speaks For Me" segments.
  • Eagle Land: Apparently, just opening the book's front cover will make you 25% more American.
  • Godwin's Law: Done with people other than Hitler. For example, he calls women's rights activists "Femin-Idi-Amins".
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: In the audiobook, Jon Stewart plays Mort Sinclair, the communist TV writer from one of the "Stephen Speaks For Me" segments.
  • Hitler Ate Sugar: Inverted. One of the margin notes says Stalin was a good dad. [1]
  • How Do I Used Tense: In the very title, Played for Laughs.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Gil Honeycomb, the oldest man in the world, suffers a fatal heart attack in the middle of his "Stephen Speaks For Me" segment.
  • Metaphorgotten
  • Mistaken for Racist: Colbert, in one of his recollections. He likes to remind everyone that he doesn't see race (unless Mexican immigrants are involved.)
  • Once an Episode: Every chapter ends with a segment called "Stephen Speaks For Me", a short passage from some character who more or less agrees with Colbert's beliefs.
  • Product Placement: Colbert sells the naming rights to the chapter on sports... three times.
    • Averted: In that same chapter, he mentions digital video recorders by the generic name because, as he lampshades, Tivo didn't pay for the chapter's naming rights.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Colbert believes in this.
  • Strawman Political: Follows (the character) Stephen Colbert's right-wing doctrine.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Fictional!Colbert sure has daddy issues.
  • You Put the X In XY: You can't spell "parentry" without "try". Also you can't spell "emotional abuse" without "bus", which is why Colbert never takes public transportation.
  1. ↑ He really wasn't.
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