Re “After Press Dinner, the Blogs Are Alive With the Sound of Colbert Chatter” (news article, May 3):

The “debate” in the blogosphere over Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner misses the point. The routine was neither a flop nor very funny.

Mr. Colbert’s aim wasn’t to please the attendees; there was no trace of anxiety when a “zinger” was received in silence. His real audience was at home, and his aim was to make his allegiances clear. On that score, it was no flop.

And although I am a fan of Mr. Colbert, I rarely laughed. If his performance wasn’t funny, perhaps it was because he wasn’t joking.

Andrew Price
Berkeley, Calif., May 3, 2006

•To the Editor:

Even if the major media uniformly found Stephen Colbert’s performance to be unfunny, does that make it unmentionable?

Beyond that, funny or not, the clubby, almost collusive relationship that has evolved between the press and the White House was made more obvious by their mutual discomfort and shared silence.

Reese Lloyd
Atlanta, May 3, 2006

•To the Editor:

I don’t think the problem is that Stephen Colbert was “predictable” or not creative enough, as Mary Matalin, the Republican strategist, would have us believe. The problem is that the room was full of people who take themselves too seriously.

I suspect that what that crowd really expected was that Mr. Colbert would play ball, tone it down, gloss over the issues and be the chummy sort of hail-fellow-well-met sycophant they are comfortable with.

Tracy Brooking
Kennesaw, Ga., May 3, 2006

•To the Editor:

Asking Republican pundits and members of the Washington press corps if Stephen Colbert’s routine was funny is a little like asking the Yankee front office and the team’s fans whether they think the Red Sox winning the World Series was gratifying.

The defensive statements you printed from those made most uncomfortable by Mr. Colbert’s “truthiness” only add to the delight of those of us who thought he was really funny.

Christine Burns
Tuckahoe, N.Y., May 3, 2006