In May, Listening Post reported that East Carolina University biologist Jason Bond named a trapdoor spider after legendary rocker Neil Young. The arachnid, dubbed Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, quickly crawled beneath hyperreal comedy titan Stephen Colbert's skin, who gave Bond an on-air tongue-lashing over the phone in June. The biologist, in turn, promised Colbert his own, and made good on his promise on Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, Colbert and Bond must now agree on which species will carry the name Aptostichus stephencolberti. He's been off for two weeks, so most likely he's been thinking of this and nothing else the whole time. Most likely.
"So tell me about my spider," Colbert asked Bond, back in June. "Does it shoot poison darts? Does it lay eggs in your ears?" Hardly. But trapdoor spiders are nocturnal predators that pretend to be something else while oblivious meals walk too close to their claws. Kind of like what happens to guests on The Colbert Report who are unaware that its host has two Wikipedia entries, one for the man and one for the simulation.
But which is which?
Back to the music. Point one: Colbert no longer has a reason to be jealous of Young. Pointtwo: The Colbert Report is one of the best music shows on television,
and may be the best show overall. On Wednesday, prog-rock lifers Rushplayed on the show, their first on American television in threedecades. Other performers have included Willie Nelson, The Roots, R.E.M. and, of course, Neil Young. Meanwhile The Apples in Stereo are set to reappear on the show on August 4, the first band ever to play it twice.
Who's next? The Who?
Photo: Comedy Central
