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The Colbert Report
The Colbert Report (/koʊlˈbɛər rɪˌpɔːr/ kohl-BAIR rih-por) 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. The show also satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor. The Colbert Report is a spin-off of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, where Colbert was a correspondent from 1997 to 2005.
The program, created by Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Ben Karlin, lampooned current events and American political happenings. The show's structure consisted of an introductory monologue and a guest interview, in which the Colbert character attempts to deconstruct his opponent's argument. The show was taped in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, and the program's set is "hyper-American", epitomizing the character's ego. The show was taped and broadcast Monday through Thursday, with weeks taken off at multiple points in a given year for breaks.
The Colbert Report saw immediate critical and ratings successes, leading to various awards, including multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards. The show's cultural influence often extended beyond the show's traditional viewing audience, including Colbert running for U.S. President twice, co-hosting a rally at the National Mall, presenting a controversial performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and establishing a real Super PAC that raised over a million dollars. The show also inspired various forms of multimedia, including music and multiple best-selling books.
The Colbert Report, hosted by a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake, satirized conservative personality-driven political pundit programs like the O'Reilly Factor and Hannity on FOX News. The character first made appearances on the short-lived sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show in 1996, described as "a self-important, trench-coated reporter who does on-location stories in a way that suggests his own presence is the real scoop." His skits included "Waiters Who Are Nauseated by Food", "Germans Who Say Nice Things" and "Skinheads from Maine".
Colbert joined Comedy Central's The Daily Show in 1997, a year following its launch, then hosted by Craig Kilborn. When Jon Stewart became the program's host in 1999, The Daily Show developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Colbert recalled that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy.
Colbert became a fixture on The Daily Show, occasionally hosting in Stewart's absence. In 2003, the program began running advertisements for a fictional program titled The Colbert Réport, starring Colbert as a parody of cable news pundits. When fellow Daily Show star Steve Carell left the show to pursue a film and television career, Comedy Central worked to keep Colbert at the network. Colbert pitched The Colbert Report to the channel in 2004. Stewart pushed Comedy Central to pick up the show, and Colbert was given an eight-week tryout. Following the show's immediate success, the show "quickly became a fixture in the late-night lineup." At its peak, the show averaged 1.5 million viewers each evening.The high viewership led the show to win multiple Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Variety Series in 2013 and 2014 followed by Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming in 2015 even after Stephen Colbert had left the show.
The intensity of the fictional Colbert anchorman character was gradually toned down over the course of the show's run, as the host believed he would eventually need to move beyond it. He began to regard it as an act of discipline to perform as the character, later remarking, "to model behavior, you have to consume that behavior on a regular basis. It became very hard to watch punditry of any kind, of whatever political stripe." In 2010, Colbert in character, testified before congress on the issue of immigrant farm labor, drawing both praise and criticism for blending comedy and political activism. With his contract set to end in December 2014, he had already decided to leave the show when he was contacted by CBS to replace David Letterman as the host of The Late Show franchise. The show's ending was announced concurrently with Colbert's jump to CBS in April 2014. The last episode of the Report aired on December 18, 2014. The show was replaced on Comedy Central's late-night lineup by The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, another spinoff of The Daily Show.
The Colbert Report made a one-off return during a segment of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 19, 2025, with "The Word" segment: "Shhhhhh..." in the context of the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by ABC.
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The Colbert Report
The Colbert Report (/koʊlˈbɛər rɪˌpɔːr/ kohl-BAIR rih-por) 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. The show also satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor. The Colbert Report is a spin-off of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, where Colbert was a correspondent from 1997 to 2005.
The program, created by Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Ben Karlin, lampooned current events and American political happenings. The show's structure consisted of an introductory monologue and a guest interview, in which the Colbert character attempts to deconstruct his opponent's argument. The show was taped in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, and the program's set is "hyper-American", epitomizing the character's ego. The show was taped and broadcast Monday through Thursday, with weeks taken off at multiple points in a given year for breaks.
The Colbert Report saw immediate critical and ratings successes, leading to various awards, including multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards. The show's cultural influence often extended beyond the show's traditional viewing audience, including Colbert running for U.S. President twice, co-hosting a rally at the National Mall, presenting a controversial performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and establishing a real Super PAC that raised over a million dollars. The show also inspired various forms of multimedia, including music and multiple best-selling books.
The Colbert Report, hosted by a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake, satirized conservative personality-driven political pundit programs like the O'Reilly Factor and Hannity on FOX News. The character first made appearances on the short-lived sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show in 1996, described as "a self-important, trench-coated reporter who does on-location stories in a way that suggests his own presence is the real scoop." His skits included "Waiters Who Are Nauseated by Food", "Germans Who Say Nice Things" and "Skinheads from Maine".
Colbert joined Comedy Central's The Daily Show in 1997, a year following its launch, then hosted by Craig Kilborn. When Jon Stewart became the program's host in 1999, The Daily Show developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Colbert recalled that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy.
Colbert became a fixture on The Daily Show, occasionally hosting in Stewart's absence. In 2003, the program began running advertisements for a fictional program titled The Colbert Réport, starring Colbert as a parody of cable news pundits. When fellow Daily Show star Steve Carell left the show to pursue a film and television career, Comedy Central worked to keep Colbert at the network. Colbert pitched The Colbert Report to the channel in 2004. Stewart pushed Comedy Central to pick up the show, and Colbert was given an eight-week tryout. Following the show's immediate success, the show "quickly became a fixture in the late-night lineup." At its peak, the show averaged 1.5 million viewers each evening.The high viewership led the show to win multiple Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Variety Series in 2013 and 2014 followed by Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming in 2015 even after Stephen Colbert had left the show.
The intensity of the fictional Colbert anchorman character was gradually toned down over the course of the show's run, as the host believed he would eventually need to move beyond it. He began to regard it as an act of discipline to perform as the character, later remarking, "to model behavior, you have to consume that behavior on a regular basis. It became very hard to watch punditry of any kind, of whatever political stripe." In 2010, Colbert in character, testified before congress on the issue of immigrant farm labor, drawing both praise and criticism for blending comedy and political activism. With his contract set to end in December 2014, he had already decided to leave the show when he was contacted by CBS to replace David Letterman as the host of The Late Show franchise. The show's ending was announced concurrently with Colbert's jump to CBS in April 2014. The last episode of the Report aired on December 18, 2014. The show was replaced on Comedy Central's late-night lineup by The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, another spinoff of The Daily Show.
The Colbert Report made a one-off return during a segment of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 19, 2025, with "The Word" segment: "Shhhhhh..." in the context of the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by ABC.