Dan Savage

Dan Savage is a media-whore, performer, editor, playwright-wanna-be, and author of a weekly column called Savage Love that appears in the Village Voice and many of the "urban weeklies" owned by that company. He's editor and co-founder of The Stranger in Seattle, one of the few such weeklies not owned the Village Voice.

Savage has not appeared on the Colbert Report despite constant requests from his "people." Savage's entreaties to the Report have become so persistent that staff there have reportedly considered hiring Charlene's lawyers at Nash DeBrutus & Short to file a restraining order against him.

Savage's publicists -- a group of pretty boys who constantly flit about him, tittering at his every phrase -- have tried to paint Savage as the bizarro Stephen Colbert. They argue -- absurdly of course -- that Savage has had a similar effect on the media.

And while it's true that Savage probably thinks he's as important as Stephen actually is, most other comparisons fall flat despite some apparent similarities in their biographies.

The real Dan Savage
Just as Stephen creates a character to trick the media when they try to interview him, so too does Savage do "performance art." But Stephen appears in his real colors every night on the Report. Savage, on the other hand, tries to hide his real self.

Savage created his character of a gay, bitchy, know-it-all, former drag queen when his career as a playwright flopped. This character has been more successful and Savage rarely drops out of the pretense.

Savage writes his column, his newspaper articles, and his incessant blog posts in character -- constantly hiding his real identity.

Despite his vehement denials, it is known that Savage is a conservative Church-going father of four who is married to his long-time sweetheart (a woman). The family lives a quiet life at a comfortable suburban spread outside Monroe, WA.