Stephen Colbert on Windsor-Canada: ‘Earth’s rectum’

If it turned out that Stephen Colbert was raised in Windsor, Ont., and was bullied on the playground by toddler-sized figures who grew up to be among the border city's political and business elite, would anyone be surprised?

Colbert, the tongue-in-cheek political commentator, has made his opinion of Windsor well known, taking a jab or two and the city, most recently calling it "Earth's rectum."

A quick reminder that five years ago, Colbert called Windsor "the worst place on earth" on his television show The Colbert Report. At least he's getting more specific.

Colbert's bittersweet infatuation with the city, which borders Detroit, returned to the spotlight with the recent release of his book America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't.

CBC reports that while discussing the harnessing of geothermal energy, the author explains that we must first take the earth's temperature with a geothermometer.

"And I have no idea where the Earth's rectum is," Colbert writes. A footnote helpfully explains that earth's rectum is in fact Windsor, Canada.

If Windsor is the rectum, the question remains what Detroit would be — which sits directly north of the Ontario city? The Cadillac Tower just got a whole lot more interesting.

The Cadillac Tower, for those who don't know, is a skyscraper in Detroit — a city that, it turns out, has a distinct lack of notable tall buildings (to be fair, it is cold in Michigan so there may be some shrinkage).

Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis told the Windor Star that Colbert could have been talking about one of the other Canadian cities named Windsor, which can be found in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Francis told the Star:

Windsor, Canada that's generic . . . he must be talking about the other Windsors. I'll be sure to call the other mayors to let them know they were mentioned by him.
He wasn't talking about us this time, that's nice to know.

The comedian (whose television persona bleeds the colours of the American flag) could have been taking a poke at somewhere else in Canada. He has done it in the past, mocking the noble beaver, our currency and the Vancouver Olympics.

He has called us "syrup suckers," "ice holes" and has referred to our country as a scourge of "fiscal sanity." And, frankly, most of Canada has embraced the comments for what they are: satirical and humourous jabs.