Stephen Colbert

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Colbert as "Senior Washington Correspondent" on The Daily Show

Stephen Tyrone Colbert (/kɔɫˈbɛɹ/; born May 13, 1964) is an American deadpan comedian, most famous for his work as a correspondent and writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, and as a producer and the host of The Colbert Report, a spin-off of The Daily Show parodying personality-driven news and opinion shows, especially Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor.

Early career

Colbert was raised in Charleston, South Carolina in a Roman Catholic family, the youngest of eleven children. Colbert's father, who was a doctor, and two of his older brothers died in a plane crash when Colbert was 10 years old. [1] [2] He attended Charleston's exclusive and private Porter-Gaud School. He was formally educated at Northwestern University, to which he transferred from Hampden-Sydney College. He is also an alumnus of The Second City, had a short stint on Good Morning America, and was formerly a performer and writer on Exit 57 as well as Strangers with Candy, where he also held executive producer credit. Briefly, he served as a writer for Saturday Night Live, where he later returned to voice the character Ace in Robert Smigel's The Ambiguously Gay Duo (the other member of the duo, Gary, was voiced by fellow Daily Show alumnus Steve Carell). He was a cast member and writer on The Dana Carvey Show. He also regularly performs as a voice actor on Cartoon Network's Harvey Birdman (part of the Adult Swim lineup), appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and appeared in the Mr. Goodwrench commercials for General Motors. He coauthored the novel Wigfield with ex-Strangers With Candy costars Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. He has provided voices for Comedy Central's Crank Yankers.

Colbert activating the God Machine in a This Week in God sketch

Colbert on The Daily Show

Some memorable segments he has appeared in for The Daily Show have included "Even Stevphen" with Steve Carell (the segment title is Steve and Stephen mixed together), and "This Week in God." Memorable reports include the 2001 "break-up" of the Republican "Singing Senators" following the defection of Jim Jeffords, and the report on Prince Charles and the British media reporting of royal family scandals through suggestive innuendo. In a few episodes of The Daily Show, Colbert has sat in the anchor's chair in the place of Stewart while the latter was dealing with other matters.

Other roles for Colbert

The trademark of his voicework in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (as Phil Ken Sebben, founder of the law firm of Sebben & Sebben, among others) is a "Ha, ha!" followed by a phrase relevant to the scene. (For example, on the subject of cookie bouquets: "Ha, ha! Cookies on dowels!")

'Stephen Colbert also puts in an excited effort playing numerous roles, such as Birdman's hypersexual boss Phil and the size-obsessed attorney Reducto. According to one commentary, he literally ran around the recording studio shouting his lines.'[3]

Colbert played a role in the big screen adaptation of Bewitched. He also starred as a forgery expert and murderer in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and an annoying tourist going to see The Producers on Broadway in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Colbert co-wrote, and has a starring role in, the feature film of Strangers with Candy. Stephen Colbert is also a producer.

The Colbert Report

Since October 17, 2005, Colbert has hosted his own television show, The Colbert Report, a parody of celebrity anchor news commentary shows like The O'Reilly Factor and Scarborough Country. Colbert performs the entire show in the character of a blustery, right-wing blowhard pundit. 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 station's highest-rated shows.

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Colbert with his "On Notice" board, on The Colbert Report.

In January 2006, Colbert was honored by the American Dialect Society for inventing its 2005 Word of the Year, "truthiness," which Colbert introduced on the premiere episode of the Report. Colbert devoted time on four successive episodes to bemoaning the failure of the Associated Press to mention his role in popularizing the word "truthiness" in its news coverage of the Word of the Year, despite the American Dialect Society giving him the credit.

Trivia

Colbert is a Lord of the Rings fanatic. When Viggo Mortensen appeared on The Daily Show, a sound-clip was played of Colbert reciting the detailed lineage of Mortensen's character, Aragorn. To reciprocate, Mortensen sent Colbert a platter of Lord of the Rings characters molded in chocolate.

He is married to Evelyn ("Evie") McGee-Colbert, who appeared with Colbert in Strangers with Candy. She also played a nurse (uncredited) in the series pilot. The couple have three children, all of whom have appeared on The Daily Show.

External links

• Stephen Colbert at IMDb
• Transcript of a segment where Colbert calls himself Ted Hitler
• TekJansen.com, the site dedicated to his book, Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: a Tek Jansen Adventure
• IGN's 10 Questions: Stephen Colbert
• IGN's 8-page An Interview with Stephen Colbert
• The Colbert Report at IMDb
• Interview with Colbert on NPR's Fresh Air (January 24, 2005)
• The Daily Show Correspondents: Stephen Colbert
• Stephen Colbert at nndb
• Interview with Colbert on NPR's Fresh Air (December 7, 2005)