During last night’s (Aug. 21) show, Stephen Colbert aired fan-created video mash-ups of an earlier episode — and then urged his viewers to make more. More than anyone else on TV, Colbert is harnessing the energies and enthusiasms of his viewers to produce a better product. Huff Po’s Rachel Sklar has more.

Rachel Sklar at the Huff Po’s “Eat the Press”:

The people behind “The Colbert Report” may be the smartest minds in televison: While everyone else frets about YouTube, web TV, and platform integration Stephen Colbert & Co are already galvanizing the online to action and integrating fan content into the show, to hilarious effect. It is, in a word, freaking brilliant.

Never mind citizen journalism, thanks to last night’s episode “The Colbert Report” has become the first program to feature fan content ? and open the floodgates to more. Last week, Colbert did a hilarious rendition of a Jedi knight, whipping a lightsaber around in front of a greenscreen (see it here). Last night, Colbert announced the “Stephen Colbert Greenscreen Challenge” where members of the Colbert Nation (a website as well as a movement) were invited to try their hand at filling in the rest.

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