Biography

Stephen Tyrone Colbert (pronounced "col-BEAR") was born on May 13, 1964 in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. He is the son of Lorna Elizabeth (Tuck) and James William Colbert, Jr., a doctor and medical school dean at Yale, Saint Louis University, and MUSC. He is the youngest of eleven children, and is of Irish Catholic background.

Stephen studied acting at Northwestern and performed with the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago before teaming up with fellow cast members Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello to create the sketch comedy Exit 57 (1995) for Comedy Central. During its two-season run in the mid-1990s, it garnered five CableACE nominations for best writing, performing, and comedy series. After the demise of Exit 57 (1995) from 1997 (until his departure in October 2005), Stephen was a correspondent on The Daily Show (1996), then hosted by Craig Kilborn. Initially billed as "The New Guy," Stephen became the show's longest-running correspondent before getting his own show, The Colbert Report (2005), which has done well in its slot following The Daily Show (1996).

At the time he left The Daily Show (1996), Stephen had been its longest-running and most diverse correspondent. In addition to his role as Senior Political Correspondent, he was one of the hosts of "Even Stepheven," a point-counterpoint assault featuring co-correspondent Steve Carell, and the host of "This Week in God," a recurring segment in which he reported on all things theological with the assistance of the "God Machine."

Stephen helped The Daily Show (1996) win numerous Emmy and Peabody Awards and contributed to "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" (Warner Books) which immediately topped the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for 15 consecutive weeks.

His personality, intelligence, and leftist political satire could only have led him to The Colbert Report (2005), a half-hour nightly platform for him to give his tongue-in-cheek take on the issues of the day, and more importantly, to tell you why he thinks everyone else's take is just plain wrong.

His other notable credits include serving as both writer and cast member on The Dana Carvey Show (1996), writing for Saturday Night Live (1975), and providing the voice of Ace in Robert Smigel's "Ambiguously Gay Duo," which originated on The Dana Carvey Show (1996) and was a semi-regular feature in Smigel's "TV Funhouse" segment on SNL. He was also featured on "Mr. Goodwrench" commercials (2003-2005).

Stephen lives in northern New Jersey with his wife and three children.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: ArchieLeach

Parodies of well-known political and media figures

His glasses

Often raises one eyebrow

Using his encyclopedic knowledge of The Lord of the Rings and William Shakespeare

An alumnus of the Second City and Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, IL. Graduated from Northwestern University in 1986.

Is deaf in his right ear.

Is a huge "Lord of the Rings" fan and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the series. Specifically recited the entire biography of LOTR character Aragorn from memory when Viggo Mortensen appeared on The Daily Show (1996). Mortensen sent him a platter full of LOTR characters carved out of chocolate.

Was included in the Peabody Award given to The Daily Show: Indecision 2002: Election Night (2002) for "offering biting political satire, these scintillating segments had something droll and amusing to say about almost everything and everyone associated with American politics and the presidential election".

His father and two of his brothers died in a plane crash when he was ten years old. On September 11, 1974, they were on an Eastern Airlines DC-9 that crashed in dense fog during its approach to Charlotte, NC. Of the 82 people on board, 72 were killed. In its report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that "the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's lack of altitude awareness at critical points during the approach due to poor cockpit discipline in that the crew did not follow prescribed procedures".

Wrote the book "Wigfield" with Strangers with Candy (1999) costars Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello.

Voiced several characters on Comedy Central's Crank Yankers (2002).

"Truthiness," a word he coined, was declared the Word of the Year 2005 by the American Dialect Society.

Has stated that not all of his family members say "Colbert" the way he does. Some pronounce the latter syllable as "Burt".

Is in the process of putting together news pieces about every congressional district in the United States.

As a result of the plane crash that killed his father and two of his brothers, the Federal Aviation Administration established the "sterile cockpit" rule, which prohibits flight crews from engaging in any conversation or activities apart from their flying duties while the aircraft is below 10,000 feet.

Received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Knox College in Galesburg, IL, in 2006.

His siblings from oldest to youngest are: James Jr. ('Jimmy'), Edward ('Eddie/Ed'), Mary Colbert Denger, William ('Billy'), Margaret ('Margo'), Thomas ('Tommy'), Jay, Elizabeth ('Lulu'), Paul, and Peter. Stephen is the youngest of the eleven.

In January 2008 he began a campaign on his show to have a portrait of his character hung in the "Treasures of American History" exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC (pieces shown in that exhibit included a top hat worn by' Abraham Lincoln, an original light bulb made by Thomas A. Edison, a Greensboro (NC) lunch counter that was the scene of a seminal civil rights sit-in, Lewis and Clark's compass, and Kermit the Frog). When the National Museum of American History refused the portrait, Colbert next offered it to the National Portrait Gallery (also a Smithsonian museum), which accepted it on a temporary basis and hung it between the bathrooms adjacent to the Hall of Presidents. After the portrait's term at the National Portrait Gallery was up, the National Museum of American History did agree to hang the portrait--next to a Dumbo car from the original Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride at Disneyland.

His older sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch (aka Lulu), is the 2014 South Carolina Democratic congressional candidate. Her Republican opponent will be Gov. Mark Sanford [April 2013].

Was number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. [October 2007].

Was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.[2006].

While still a struggling actress, Jennifer Garner once babysat for Stephen and wife Evelyn's baby girl after they'd become acquainted playing cameo roles on Spin City: The Competition (1996).

He was nominated for the 2017 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Performing Arts category.

He and Ted Danson are distant relatives, as revealed on the PBS series, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: Puritans and Pioneers (2017).

Worked as a waiter for 5 years as a young man.

His father James was a immunologist.

[on what he would like to ask former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean] The media tries to portray you as an angry candidate. Doesn't that piss you off?

[Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, UT), January 23, 2004] Since there's not more news than there used to be, but there's way more time, and more channels doing it all the time, so that analysis has become much more than news . . . They really have to fill and they go, "(Expletive), we'll just have analysis for the next three hours," because there's no more new on the story. And then . . . the first person with a semi-cogent thought, they go, "(Expletive), I'll say that, too." And then that analysis becomes accepted dogma because analysis is the bulk of what you're getting. You're not really getting any more news.

[on his mock "crusade" against the Associated Press regarding his claim that coined the word "truthiness"] It's a sin of omission, is what it is. You're not giving people the whole story about truthiness. It's like [William Shakespeare] still being alive and not asking him what "Hamlet" is about.

[about the Washington press corps] But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The President makes decisions, he's the decider. The Press Secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know, fiction.

[on writing] I used to write things for friends. There was this girl I had a crush on, and she had a teacher she didn't like at school. I had a real crush on her, so almost every day I would write her a little short story where she would kill him in a different way.

When Jon Stewart got The Daily Show (1996), [Colbert's wife Evelyn McGee] said, "Wait a second--he wasn't the funny one in our group. He was the quiet one in the corner with a beer".

[Remembering the 2000 presidential election recount] We all had such blue balls from the jokes we wanted to do when Al Gore eventually conceded. And the night it happened, here we were doing them. I turned to Jon Stewart and said, "This is the most fun job on TV right now".

My brother Billy was the joke teller. My brother Jim had a really sharp, cutting wit. And the teller of long stories, that was my brother Ed. As a child, I just absorbed everything they said, and I was always in competition for the laughs.

The trouble with the jokes is that once they're written, I know how they're supposed to work, and all I can do is not hit them. I'm more comfortable improvising. If I have just two or three ideas and I know how the character feels, what the character wants, everything in between is like trapeze work.

My character is a patriot, and he believes that the Olympics are war. It's a way to prove who's got the best country. Only nobody gets hurt.

[In 2009] I know what you're thinking: "Isn't the Iraq War over?" That's what I thought, too. I hadn't seen it in the media for a while, and when I don't see something, I assume it's vanished forever, like in that terrifying game "Peekaboo". We stopped seeing much coverage of the Iraq War back in September when the economy tanked, and I just figured the insurgents were wiped out because they were heavily invested in Lehman Brothers. Turns out there are still 135,000 troops in Iraq, which I don't understand because we've already won the war. And we've won it so many times. We should win something for the number of times we've won it. We eliminated the weapons of mass destruction by having them not exist. We took out Saddam Hussein--or a really convincing and committed Saddam Hussein double. We helped write the Iraqi Constitution and clearly gave Iraqis the right to bear a lot of arms. And by August of next year we'll withdraw every single one of our troops, leaving behind only memories and 50,000 troops. But despite our continued victories, Americans have many lingering questions about Iraq. For example: where is Iraq? My guess is somewhere near Paraguay.

[on preparing to replace David Letterman's show with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015)] There are some huge shoes to fill. And some really big pants.

[as new host on the premiere of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015), September 8, 2015] With this show I begin the search for the real Stephen Colbert. I just hope I don't find him on Ashley Madison.

[on his show, May 3, 2017] If you saw my monologue Monday, you know that I was a little upset at Donald Trump for insulting a friend of mine. So at the end of that monologue I had a few choice insults for the president in return. I don't regret that. He, I believe, can take care of himself. I have jokes; he has the launch pads. So it's a fair fight.

Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla that got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--k holster.

Mr. Trump, there is a lot you don't understand. But I never thought one of those things would be show business! Don't you know, I have been trying for a year to get you to say my name!? And you were very restrained. Admirably restrained. But now, you did it. I won.

[Presenting the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical in 2017] It's been a great year for revivals in general, especially that one they revived down in Washington DC. It started off Broadway in the '80s - way off Broadway, over on Fifth Avenue - huge production values, couple problems: main character is totally unbelievable! And the hair and make-up! Yeesh! No! This DC production's supposed to have a four-year run, but reviews have *not* been kind. Could close early.

George Church once stopped me from eating 20 million copies of his book 'Regenisis'. The fact that it was possible for me to do that is a testament to his genius. He had transmitted all the information in the book, including pictures, into the A-T-G-C code of DNA and placed 20 million copies of it in a tiny spot on a scrap of paper. It was a powerful demonstration of both the complexity and capacity of the genome he has dedicated his life to studying. As a biological engineer, Dr. Church has been accused of 'playing God', an accusation abetted by his beard of biblical proportions. But to me, George seems less like God and more like a cross between Darwin and Santa.

[after Donald Trump publicly attacked "the guy on CBS" for having "no talent"] Hey Mr. President, I will not stand here and let you talk that way about James Corden!

A no-deal Brexit would be an economic nightmare and "lead to food and medicine shortages in Britain". That is horrible! Not only will they be without medicine, they're going to have to start eating British food! Either way, there's going to be a lot of spotted dick going around.

[on the arrest of Steve Bannon on fraud charges] I think I'm having what the Germans call a "Schadengasm".

What is art? Where do we draw the line between art and pornography? And what if that line looks like a buttcrack?