like The O'Reilly Factor and Glenn Beck.[5][44] Colbert hosts the show in-character as a blustery right-wing pundit, generally considered to be an extension of his character on The Daily Show. Concei

Colbert, in his television series persona, prepares to interview Michelle Obama. The set of The Colbert Report satirizes cable-personality political talk shows.
Since October 17, 2005, Colbert has hosted his own television show, The Colbert Report, a Daily Show spin-off which parodies the conventions of television news broadcasting,[20] particularly cable-personality political talk shows like The O'Reilly Factor and Glenn Beck.[5][44] Colbert hosts the show in-character as a blustery right-wing pundit, generally considered to be an extension of his character on The Daily Show. Conceived by co-creators Stewart, Colbert, and Ben Karlin in part as an opportunity to explore "the character-driven news", the series focuses less on the day-to-day news style of the Daily Show, instead frequently concentrating on the foibles of the host-character himself.
The concept for The Report was first seen in a series of Daily Show segments which advertised the then-fictional series as a joke. It was later developed by Stewart's Busboy Productions and pitched to Comedy Central, which greenlighted the program; Comedy Central had already been searching for a way to extend the successful Daily Show franchise beyond a half hour.[45] The series opened to strong ratings, averaging 1.2 million viewers nightly during its first week on the air. Comedy Central signed a long-term contract for The Colbert Report within its first month on the air, when it immediately established itself among the network's highest-rated shows.[46][47]
Much of Colbert's personal life is reflected in his character on The Colbert Report. With the extended exposure of the character on the show, he often references his interest in and knowledge of Catholicism, science fiction, and The Lord of the Rings, as well as using real facts to create his character's history. His alternate persona was also raised in South Carolina, is the youngest of 11 siblings and is married.[48] The actual Colbert's career history in acting and comedy, however, is often downplayed.
In July 2012, Colbert added two years to his contract with Comedy Central, extending the run of the Colbert Report until at least the end of 2014.[49]
Politics

2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
Main article: Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
On Saturday, April 29, 2006, Stephen Colbert was the featured entertainer for the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Standing a few yards from U.S. President George W. Bush[50]—in front of an audience the Associated Press called a "Who's Who of power and celebrity"[51]—Colbert delivered a searing routine targeting the president and the media.[52] In his politically conservative character from The Colbert Report, Colbert satirized the George W. Bush Administration and the White House press corps with such lines as:

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election season. The roles of the show's correspondents were expanded to include more in-studio segments, as well as international reports which were almost always done in the studio with the aid of a gr

Main article: The Daily Show
Stephen Colbert joined the cast of Comedy Central's parody-news series The Daily Show in 1997, when the show was in its second season. Originally one of four correspondents who filmed segments from remote locations in the style of network news field reporters, Colbert was referred to as "the new guy" on-air for his first two years on the show, during which time Craig Kilborn served as host. When Kilborn left the show prior to the 1999 season, Jon Stewart took over hosting duties, also serving as a writer and co-executive producer. From this point, the series gradually began to take on a more political tone and increase in popularity, particularly in the latter part of the 2000 U.S. presidential election season. The roles of the show's correspondents were expanded to include more in-studio segments, as well as international reports which were almost always done in the studio with the aid of a greenscreen.[25]
Unlike Stewart, who essentially hosts The Daily Show as himself,[41] Colbert developed a correspondent character for his pieces on the series. Colbert has described his correspondent character as "a fool who has spent a lot of his life playing not the fool — one who is able to cover it at least well enough to deal with the subjects that he deals with".[25] Colbert was frequently pitted against knowledgeable interview subjects, or against Stewart in scripted exchanges, with the resultant dialogue demonstrating the character's lack of knowledge of whatever subject he is discussing.[8][25] Colbert also made generous use of humorous fallacies of logic in explaining his point of view on any topic. Other Daily Show correspondents have adopted a similar style; former correspondent Rob Corddry recalls that when he and Ed Helms first joined the show's cast in 2002, they "just imitated Stephen Colbert for a year or two".[9] Correspondent Aasif Mandvi has stated "I just decided I was going to do my best Stephen Colbert impression".[10]
Colbert has appeared in several recurring segments for The Daily Show, including "Even Stevphen" with Steve Carell,[42] in which both characters were expected to debate a selected topic but instead would unleash their anger at one another. Colbert commonly hosted "This Week in God", a report on topics in the news pertaining to religion, presented with the help of the "God Machine". Colbert filed reports from the floor of the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention as a part of The Daily Show's award-winning coverage of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential elections; many from the latter were included as part of their The Daily Show: Indecision 2004 DVD release. In several episodes of The Daily Show, Colbert filled in as anchor in the absence of Jon Stewart, including the full week of March 3, 2002, when Stewart was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live. After Colbert left the show, Rob Corddry took over "This Week in God" segments, although a recorded sample of Colbert's voice is still used as the sound effect for the God Machine. Later episodes of The Daily Show have reused older Colbert segments under the label "Klassic Kolbert". Colbert won three Emmys as a writer of The Daily Show in 2004, 2005, and 2006.[43]
The Colbert Report
Main article: The Colbert Report

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7 Filmography 8 Bibliography 9 Discography 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

o host a spin-off series, The Colbert Report. Following The Daily Show's news-parody concept, The Colbert Report is a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows such as The O'Reilly Factor. Since its debut, the series has established itself as one of Comedy Central's highest-rated series, earning Colbert three Emmy Award nominations and an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in 2006. Colbert was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2006 and 2012.[11][12] His book I Am America (And So Can You!) was No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Contents  [hide]
1 Early life
2 Early career in comedy
3 Television career
3.1 Strangers with Candy
3.2 The Daily Show
3.3 The Colbert Report
4 Politics
4.1 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
4.2 2008 Presidential bid
4.3 2009 Show of solidarity with U.S. troops in Iraq War
4.4 2010 Congressional testimony
4.5 2010 Washington D.C. rallies
4.6 Super PAC and 2012 Presidential campaign
4.7 Other work
5 Personal life
6 Awards and honors
6.1 COLBERT Treadmill
7 Filmography
8 Bibliography
9 Discography
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Early life

Colbert was born in Washington, D.C.,[13] and grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, on James Island, the youngest of 11 children in a Catholic family.[6][14][15] Colbert and his siblings, in order from oldest to youngest, are James ("Jimmy"), Edward ("Eddie"), Mary, William ("Billy"), Margo, Thomas ("Tommy"), Jay, Elizabeth ("Lulu"), Paul, Peter, and Stephen.
Many of his ancestors emigrated from Ireland to North America in the 19th century before and during the Great Famine.[16][17]
His father, James William Colbert, Jr., was a doctor and medical school dean at Yale University, Washington University, and finally at the Medical University of South Carolina where he served as vice president for academic affairs. Stephen's mother, Lorna Colbert (née Tuck), was a homemaker.[16][18] In interviews, Colbert describes his parents as devout people who also strongly value intellectualism and taught their children that it was possible to question the Church and still be Catholic.[19] The emphasis his family placed on intelligence and his observation of negative stereotypes of Southerners led Colbert to train himself to suppress his Southern accent while he was still quite young. As a child, he observed that Southerners were often depicted as being less intelligent than other characters on scripted television; to avoid that stereotype, he taught himself to imitate the speech of American news anchors.[20][21]
Colbert sometimes comedically claims his surname is French, but his family is of Irish, English, and distant German descent.[6][22] Originally, the name was pronounced /ˈkoʊlbərt/ in English; Stephen Colbert's father, James, wanted to pronounce the name /koʊlˈbɛər/, but maintained the /ˈkoʊlbərt/ pronunciation out of respect for his own father. He offered his children the option to pronounce the name whichever way they preferred.[14] Stephen started using /

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