From politics to showbiz, Hillary Clinton to Stephen Colbert, we have seen more revealing examples over the past week of how crucial authenticity is to winning over Americans in this new era. And while Clinton and Colbert are both huge talents in their fields, they face surprisingly similar risks.
Clinton, of course, has been struggling for months with a press narrative that she is overly scripted and stage-managed by her numerous political handlers. Clinton, it seems, is so hardened by battles of the past that she seems to be hidden beneath a cloak, and voters naturally wonder whether they can trust her if they can’t be sure who is underneath.
What an unhappy surprise it was, then, to awaken to a front page story in The New York Times last week reporting that her aides now plan to reintroduce her as a warmer, funnier Hillary. Another day, another Hillary? For years now, they have been reintroducing her, each time as a new Hillary. Remember how many new Nixons there were? Why can’t Hillary Inc. relax and just let her be herself — stop shifting her persona with every setback and let us get to know the real Hillary underneath.
Strange as it may sound, Stephen Colbert has the potential for the same kind of identity problem: The real Colbert, as himself, has yet to emerge. After all, the Colbert we know from Comedy Central is fictional — a wacky, satirical, self-important faux news anchor. And while the fictional Stephen Colbert character is not what “Late Show” viewers were expecting, that’s actually in large measure what we’ve seen so far on CBS.
To be fair, media critics and loyalists have total confidence in him. They believe he can easily reconcile his fictional persona with the real talk show host that he’ll reveal himself to be. Certainly, robust inaugural viewership of 6.55 million and No. 1 rating in the time slot with adults 18-49 suggest his big, if messy, debut was a success and that Colbert may find his groove.
But there’s serious risk that he might have trouble finding that authentic groove.
One sign has already emerged. So far, most of his guests are performing below their talent level. George Clooney’s interview on opening night was widely regarded as a dud. Jeb Bush actually kept pace with Colbert’s zigzags and avoided the traps, but what new insight did we gain? In his Night Two monologue, Colbert explained these away as production glitches: The first night’s show suffered from an embarrassment of riches and two hours of amazing content had to be cut down to a one-hour show.
But that’s likely the wrong explanation. Lackluster guest turns also emerged in the second night’s stargazing skit with Scarlett Johansson, which was neither funny nor illuminating and was hardly worth her trip from Paris; the stilted interview with tech innovator Elon Musk was hard to watch. Colbert’s ratings in the second night for the 18-49 demographic dropped from his first night by almost half, to 0.8, while rival late-night host Jimmy Fallon’s rebounded to 1.2 from 0.8 on Colbert’s debut night.
Joe Biden’s appearance on Night Three was the clear exception to this trend. Biden and Colbert laid themselves and their personal pain over family losses open to us all. And the two-part interview left viewers emotional and reverential toward them both. But there was still a nagging feeling that even this experience was a little managed.
Biden talked mostly about things we know — the incredible life and service of his son Beau, his emotional indecision about whether to run for president — and deflected most direct questions that could have revealed something new about himself or his intentions. Likewise, for Colbert, the heartbreaking story about losing his father and two siblings is not new and has been part of our emotional narrative with him for many years.
Part of the danger is that Colbert, like Clinton, seems scripted and self-referential. He is mostly focused on himself, elevating and showcasing his world view and deconstructive silliness. So far, with Biden the exception, he has not been on the lookout for uncovering his guests’ passion points (even contentious ones). He’s so manic about being Colbert that people have a hard time even getting a word in edgewise. And his talented guests are diminished as a result.
It takes effort to make the demanding transition from “wearing” a narrative to standing publicly in one’s real self. One key to getting there and projecting authenticity is self-awareness, something that is particularly important to comedians, like Colbert, and politicians, like Clinton. Self-awareness helps them understand how and why they connect (or don’t) with people, and with it they can more accurately anticipate where public perceptions are headed.
Those who know themselves — how to play to their strengths and comfortably accommodate their vulnerabilities — tend to have longer and stronger relationships with their fans. Without being able to act on those grounding insights, the risk is that over time, their supporters see through their act and become disenchanted. In Clinton’s case, she is even seen as a congenital liar. Her declining favorability ratings with core voters reflect the destructive power of not being consistent about who she is with her audience, especially as she’s being buffeted by extraordinary outside forces. Her countless reintroductions are reactive and reinforce this — one month she’s strong and defiant, another month she’s happy and heartfelt.
To cross the threshold into authenticity, both Clinton and Colbert would do well to really plumb their own depths of feeling and take the risk to intentionally reveal to us who they actually are. No team of handlers can do that for them.
The Biden interview shows that Colbert is nimble enough to get out in front of the authenticity curve. He clearly can step into his passion and let us experience the real Colbert, whether that’s skipping over the obvious and getting to the emotional heart of something, being the disruptive satirist or spinning goofiness.
Clinton might want to watch whether Colbert moves through his transition successfully and how he navigates the more difficult traps that can lead to failure. Friends say that the private Hillary Clinton has a tough and muscular mind, a hearty sense of humor and a soft, engaged spot for human suffering. But that is not the candidate we see. If Clinton is something other than what she’s selling, she needs to ‘fess up and own that. And also trust us enough to let us understand that.