Early career in comedy
While at Northwestern, Colbert studied with the intent of becoming a dramatic actor; mostly he performed in experimental plays and was uninterested in comedy. He began performing improvisation at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago as a part of Del Close's ImprovOlympic at a time when the project was focused on competitive, long form improvisation, rather than improvisational comedy. "I wasn't gonna do Second City", Colbert later recalled, "because those Annoyance people looked down on Second City because they thought it wasn't pure improv...there was a slightly snobby, mystical quality to the Annoyance people". After Colbert graduated in 1986, however, he was in need of a job, and a friend who was employed at Second City's box office offered him work answering phones and selling souvenirs. Colbert accepted, and discovered that Second City employees were entitled to take classes at their training center for free. Despite his earlier aversion to the comedy group, he signed up for improvisation classes, and enjoyed the experience greatly.
Shortly thereafter, he was hired to perform with Second City's touring company, initially as an understudy for Steve Carell. It was there he met Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello, with whom he often collaborated later in his career. By their retelling, the three comedians did not get along at first...Dinello thought Colbert was uptight, pretentious and cold, while Colbert thought of Dinello as "an illiterate thug"...but the trio became close friends while touring together, discovering that they shared a similar comic sensibility.
When Sedaris and Dinello were offered the opportunity to create a television series for HBO Downtown Productions, Colbert left The Second City and relocated to New York in order to work with them on the sketch comedy show
Exit 57. The series debuted on Comedy Central in 1995 and aired through 1996. Despite only lasting for 12 episodes, the show received favorable reviews and was nominated for five CableACE Awards in 1995, in categories including best writing, performance, and comedy series.
Following the cancellation of
Exit 57, Colbert worked for six months as a cast member and writer on
The Dana Carvey Show, alongside former Second City cast mate Steve Carell, as well as Robert Smigel, Charlie Kaufman, Louis C.K., and Dino Stamatopoulos, among others. The series, described by one reviewer as "kamikaze satire" in "borderline-questionable taste", had sponsors pull out after its first episode aired, and was canceled after seven episodes. Colbert then worked briefly as a freelance writer for
Saturday Night Live with Robert Smigel. Smigel also brought his animated sketch
The Ambiguously Gay Duo to
SNL from
The Dana Carvey Show; Colbert provided the voice of Ace on both series, opposite Steve Carell as Gary. Needing money, he also worked as a script consultant for VH1 and MTV, before taking a job filming humorous correspondent segments for
Good Morning America. Only two of the segments he proposed were ever produced, and only one aired, but the job led his agent to refer him to
The Daily Show's then-producer, Madeline Smithberg, who hired Colbert on a trial basis in 1997.
Strangers with Candy
During the same time frame, Colbert worked again with Sedaris and Dinello to develop a new comedy series for Comedy Central,
Strangers with Candy. Comedy Central picked up the series in 1998 after Colbert had already begun working on
The Daily Show. As a result he accepted a reduced role, filming only around twenty
Daily Show segments a year while he worked on the new series.
Strangers with Candy was conceived of as a parody of after school specials, following the life of Jerri Blank, a 46-year-old dropout who returns to finish high school after 32 years of life on the street. Most noted by critics for its use of offensive humor, it concluded each episode by delivering to the audience a skewed, politically incorrect moral lesson. Colbert served as a main writer alongside Sedaris and Dinello, as well as portraying Jerri's strict but uninformed history teacher, Chuck Noblet, seen throughout the series dispensing inaccurate information to his classes. Colbert has likened this to the character he played on
The Daily Show and later
The Colbert Report, claiming that he has a very specific niche in portraying "poorly informed, high-status idiot" characters. Another running joke throughout the series was that Noblet, a closeted homosexual, was having a "secret" affair with fellow teacher Geoffrey Jellineck despite the fact that their relationship was apparent to everyone around them. This obliviousness also appears in Colbert's
Daily Show and
Colbert Report character.
Thirty episodes of
Strangers with Candy were made, which aired on Comedy Central in 1999 and 2000. Though its ratings were not remarkable during its initial run, it has been characterized as a cult show with a small but dedicated audience. Colbert reprised his role for a film adaptation, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and had a limited release in 2006. The film received mixed reviews. Colbert also co-wrote the screenplay with Sedaris and Dinello.
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.
Unlike Stewart, who essentially hosts
The Daily Show as himself, 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". 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. 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". Correspondent Aasif Mandvi has stated "I just decided I was going to do my best Stephen Colbert impression".
Colbert has appeared in several recurring segments for
The Daily Show, including "Even Stevphen" with Steve Carell, 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
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.
The Colbert Report
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, particularly cable-personality political talk shows like
The O'Reilly Factor and
Glenn Beck. 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. 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.
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. The actual Colbert's career history in acting and comedy, however, is often downplayed.
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...in front of an audience the Associated Press called a "Who's Who of power and celebrity"...Colbert delivered a searing routine targeting the president and the media. 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:
Colbert received a chilly response from the audience. His jokes were often met with silence and muttering, apart from the enthusiastic laughter of a few in the audience. The major media outlets paid little attention to it initially.
Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor Todd Gitlin claimed that this was because Colbert's routine was as critical of the media as it was of Bush. Richard Cohen, also writing for
The Washington Post, responded that the routine was not funny. The video of Colbert's performance became an Internet and media sensation, and ratings for
The Colbert Report rose 37% in the week following the speech. In
Time magazine James Poniewozik called it "the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006". Writing six months later,
New York Times columnist Frank Rich referred to Colbert's speech as a "cultural primary" and called it the "defining moment" of the 2006 midterm elections. The performance earned Colbert the "Gutsiest Move" Award on Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007.
2010 Congress testimony
On September 24, 2010, Colbert testified in character before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security. He was invited by committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren to describe his experience participating in the United Farm Workers' "Take Our Jobs" program, in which he spent a day working alongside migrant workers in upstate New York.At the end of his often-humorous testimony, Colbert broke character in responding to a question from Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, and explained why he cares about the plight of migrant workers:
- “One of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don’t have any rights as a result. ... That is an interesting contradiction to me. And, you know, whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, and these seem like the least of our brothers...right now. ... Migrant workers suffer and have no rights.”
Republican committee member Steve King and Democrat John Conyers questioned whether it was appropriate for the comedian to appear before Congress, citing the waste of taxpayer money. Conyers asked him to leave the hearing.
Other work
Stephen Colbert is co-author of the satirical text-and-picture novel
The Can Do Town That Just May Not, which was published in 2003 by Hyperion Books. The novel was a collaboration between Colbert, Amy Sedaris, and Paul Dinello, and tells the story of a small town threatened by the impending destruction of a massive dam. The narrative is presented as a series of fictional interviews with the town's residents, accompanied by photos. The three authors toured performing an adaptation of
Wigfield on stage the same year the book was released.
Colbert appeared in a small supporting role in the 2005 film adaptation of
Bewitched. He has made guest appearances on the television series
Curb Your Enthusiasm,
Spin City, and
Criminal Intent, and on the improvisational comedy show
Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He voiced the characters of Reducto and Phil Ken Sebben in the Adult Swim's
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law but left the show in 2005 to work on The Colbert Report. His characters were both killed, though he returned to voice Phil for the series finale. Colbert also has provided voices for Cartoon Network's
The Venture Bros., Comedy Central's
Crank Yankers, and
American Dad!, as well as for Canadian animated comedy series
The Wrong Coast. He appeared as Homer Simpson's life coach in the
Simpsons episode "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs".
Colbert filled in for Sam Seder on the second episode of
The Majority Report on Air America Radio, and has also done reports for
The Al Franken Show. He appeared on a track on
Wig in a Box, a tribute album for
Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Colbert read the part of Leopold Bloom in
Bloomsday on Broadway XXIV: Love Literature Language Lust: Leopold's Women Bloom on June 16, 2005 at Symphony Space in New York City. He appeared in a series of TV commercials for General Motors, as a not-too-bright investigator searching for the elusive (and non-existent in real life) "Mr. Goodwrench". He also portrayed the letter Z in
Sesame Street: All-Star Alphabet, a 2005 video release.
Colbert is a producer of
The 1 Second Film, the world's largest nonprofit collaborative art film. His video request that IMDb list his credit for
The 1 Second Film ("it is as valid as most of my credits") enabled thousands of the film's producers to be listed in the massive movie database until they were removed in early 2007.
Colbert has released one book associated with
The Colbert Report,
I Am America . It was released on October 7, 2007 by Grand Central Publishing. Grand Central Publishing is the successor to Warner Books, which published
America , written by
The Daily Show staff. The book contains similar political satire, but was written primarily by Colbert himself rather than as a collaboration with his
Colbert Report writing staff.
On November 23, 2008, his Christmas special,
The Greatest Gift of All!, aired on Comedy Central. It was released on DVD in November 2008.
In January 2010, Colbert was named the assistant sports psychologist for the US Olympic speed skating team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was also invited to be part of NBC's 2010 Winter Olympics coverage team by Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports.