by contributor Suzanne Struglinski
Stephen Colbert was on hand Friday to unveil his own lifelike wax figure at the D.C. location of Madame Tussauds wax musuem.
“1, 2, Me!,” Colbert exclaimed as the black curtain fell revealing his wax-likeness and a replica of his Colbert Report set.
“I am so beautiful,” he said before posing for photos with himself and thanking the museum for letting him become the next “waxican American” and “the greatest American figurine since the Ken doll.”
A team of Madame Tussauds studio artists took more than 250 precise measurements and photographs from every angle to make sure the wax figure captured Colbert’s style, exact eye color and expression including his signature raised eyebrow.
Colbert explained that he was posing for the artists the day the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision on the Obama administration’s health care law.
At first someone rushed in saying it was unconstitutional and then it was wrong and that it was constitutional, and Colbert could not change expressions throughout any of the breaking news. He had someone read him news so he could prepare for the show that night.
“It is 100% accurate, I am happy to say down to every freckle, every wrinkle, every hair. I even sent them a DVD of my latest colonoscopy,” Colbert said. “I am honored to be standing here next to my man crayon.”
He even provided his eye glass prescription so the museum could recreate that exact specification and magnification. He also donated a suit, tie, shirt, cuff links, socks, shoes and lapel pin. He said the
figure was wearing “Brooks Brothers” and that he learned from the museum staff that this skin tone was “semi-gloss Romney voter.”
Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series “The Colbert Report,” for the past seven years, already has a portrait at the Smithsonian American History Museum.
He joked that Daily Show host Jon Stewart doesn’t have a statue in the wax museum but instead Stewart has one at home.
Visitors can interact and take photos behind the desk and sit next to Colbert.
“Stephen Colbert was an ideal choice to immortalize in wax and we know our guests and especially his fans, will enjoy stepping onto the show’s set and interacting with his figure,” said Dan Rogoski, General Manager for Madame Tussauds D.C.
The Press Conference:
