IN: Sergio Santos Mendes (Portuguese pronunciation: ['seRZju 'satuZ 'medZiS]; born February 11, 1941) is a Brazilian musician. He has over 55 releases, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2012 as co-writer of the song "Real in Rio" from the animated film Rio. Mendes is married to Gracinha Leporace, who has performed with him since the early 1970s.

Mendes was born in Niteroi, Brazil, the son of a physician. He attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late 1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was emerging. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor) and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil. Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the Sergio Mendes & Brasil '65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records. Sergio became full partners with Richard Adler, a Brooklyn-born American who had previously brought Bossa Tres plus two dancers, Joe Bennett and a Brazilian partner, to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, in 1963. He was also accompanied by Jobim; Flavio Ramos, and Aloisio Olivera, a record and TV producer from Rio. The Musicians Union only allowed this group to appear on one TV show and one club appearance (Basin Street East) before ordering them to leave the U.S. When the new group, Brasil '65 was formed, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank and other West Coast musicians got Sergio and the others into the local musicians union. Adler and Mendes formed Brasil '65, which consisted of Wanda Sa and Rosinha de Valenca, as well as the Sergio Mendes Trio. The group recorded albums for Atlantic and Capitol.

Where did he attend school?

OUT: He attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist.

IN: The Colbert Report () is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005 to December 18, 2014 for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor.

Reviews of The Colbert Report upon its 2005 premiere were positive, although critics were generally skeptical that the character could extend beyond one season without growing tiresome. While positively reviewing the program as a whole, Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune echoed these sentiments: "The biggest question hanging over The Colbert Report is whether the show's sendup of the pomposity and fear-mongering of cable news blowhards will be as appealing in the long term." Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer summarized the show's early reaction: "Critics and bloggers either loved the premiere or declared themselves to be unmoved, but that's the standard reaction after any late-night program's debut. A truer measure will be seen in coming weeks, after the hype wears off and the ratings lose their exuberance." Gilbert Cruz of Entertainment Weekly noted that "Colbert proves that the line between serious TV journalism and utter nonsense is a very thin one indeed." Heather Havrilesky of Salon was effusive, remarking, "Not only does Colbert maintain his persona without skipping a beat throughout the entire show, but he's got great comic timing, the show's writers are brilliant, and the whole thing is pure foolish, bizarre, idiotic fun." Barry Garron of The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it an "auspicious debut", writing, "The new show dovetails nicely with its lead-in to present a solid hour of skewered news and punctured pomposity." Variety's Brian Lowry commented that the show had an "impressive start with a topnotch premiere followed by a respectable second outing." Paul Brownfield of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "In the run-up to the show it all sounded a bit hard to get your head around, but in the flesh the show zinged, at least this first week." The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert praised the show's wordplay, summarizing, "Colbert's a clever creation, and a necessary one, and he deserves an opportunity to offend as many people as possible with his pompous blather." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times commented that the show was a welcome addition to the Comedy Central lineup, remarking, "What puts Mr. Colbert over the top is that he is not just impersonating well known television personalities, he also uses parody to score larger points about politics and the press." Nevertheless, there were more negative reviews: USA Today's Robert Bianco opined that the show "tried too hard", writing, "Unfortunately, in just two weeks on the air, this half-hour spoof of a no-spin-zone type show has already stretched Colbert's character and the artifice that supports it past its natural breaking point."

Did the show ever face criticism?

OUT:
critics were generally skeptical that the character could extend beyond one season without growing tiresome.