Over the last two decades, Stephen Colbert has provided a unique voice in the ever-competitive
world of late-night television.
From The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to his newest gig as host of The Late Show,
Colbert has become known for his caricatured socio political parody, clever wit, and playful
flair for the nonsensical.
Following a recent ratings surge—dubbed the "Trump bump" —people are now wondering
whether Colbert is our "new king of late night."
But how well do fans really know him?
Here are some interesting facts that might just surprise you.
Hearing loss
When Colbert was a child, he had a botched operation on a severely perforated eardrum
that left him deaf in his right ear.
As he revealed to The New Yorker, "I had this weird tumor as a kid, and they scooped it
out with a melon baller."
"It's all gone.
Nothing in here."
As it turns out, though, the surgery failure derailed a childhood dream.
He explained,
"I always wanted to be a marine biologist…but then I had this ear problem.
I have no ear drum.
[...] Now I can't get my head wet.
I mean, I can, but I can't really scuba dive or anything like that.
So that killed my marine biology hopes."
But Colbert takes his hearing impairment with stride, and even enjoys performing party tricks
with his deaf ear.
Tragedy strikes
Colbert's family suffered heartbreaking loss in 1974, when Stephen's father, James, and
two brothers, Peter and Paul, died in a plane crash in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Because his older siblings were either working or in college, Colbert, the youngest of 11,
was left alone with his mother, Lorna.
He told Parade Magazine,
"The shades were down, and she wore a lot of black, and it was very quiet.
[...] It was a constant search for healing.
My mother gave that gift to all of us.
I am so blessed to have been the child at home with her."
Still, the tragedy weighed heavily on Colbert.
"I didn't really feel the loss until I was in college.
And then I was in bad shape."
It was then that he lost about 50 pounds while finally digesting what he and his family had
lost.
"Yeah.
got very sad about it."
Meet-cute
In 1990, Colbert returned home to contemplate his future after his then-girlfriend gave
him a "fish or cut bait" ultimatum.
When he told his mother, she gave him some wise advice, saying, "If you don't know, it's
not right."
That night, his mother's advice rang true when he attended a musical premiere at the
Spoleto Festival and unexpectedly met the woman he'd one day marry, Evelyn McGee.
He said,
"I'll never forget it.
I walk in and I see this woman across the lobby and I thought, 'That one.
Right there.'
At that moment, I thought, 'That's crazy.
You're crazy, Colbert.'
And it turned out I was right."
"And I think, you will kick yourself for the rest of your life if you do not turn around
and say hello to her."
He turned around, and the two ended up talking for the rest of the night.
The rest is family history.
Family man
Colbert lives in Montclair, New Jersey with Evelyn, who is President of the Montclair
Film Festival's Board of Trustees.
They have three children together: Madeline, Peter, and John.
Despite having decades worth of fame, Colbert's personal life is fairly normal.
He told The New York Times, "I have a wife who loves me, and I am oddly normative.
I read to the children most nights…I am big on hugging.
We are very silly."
Colbert is also a devout Irish Catholic who attends church every Sunday with his family
and is known to teach Sunday school when he finds the time.
He told The Telegraph, "In what I do there's not a lot of people who go to Catholic church
… I get to actually talk to someone who will take me seriously when I talk about religion.
Albeit I have to find somebody who's seven to take me seriously."
"A President is like a mommy or a daddy that keeps people safe, and helps make the laws
and also has nuclear weapons."
Taking the stage
Colbert often shows off his singing chops on his show, but did you know that he's a
Grammy winner and Broadway performer?
Colbert won a Grammy Award in 2009 for "A Colbert Christmas".
During his musical Christmas special, he proved himself to be a true song and dance man.
The triple threat even got his pal Jon Stewart in on the action, duetting on the instant
classic, "Can I Interest You In Hanukkah?"
Colbert also played Harry in a 2011 production of Stephen Sondheim's Company, with Sondheim
himself inviting the satirist to be a part of the production by saying, "You have a perfect
voice for musical theater.'"
Lord of the Rings
It might seem like Stephen Colbert's biggest passion is world of politics, but as it turns
out, the thing he's most obsessed with is his collection of J.R.R.
Tolkien novels.
He told The Charleston Post, "I escaped my teen years and all that grief in books."
"I spent entire teenage years reading all of Tolkien.
Not just The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.
I'm talking Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Leaf by Niggle!"
Not only is he fluent in the fictional language of Tolkien's elves, but director Peter Jackson
has credited Colbert for his "encyclopedic knowledge" of the series, saying, "I have
never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life."
"Why does anyone think Frodo is going to be able to throw the ring in the fire?
Spoiler alert."
Colbert even got to live the ultimate fanboy dream when he and his adorable family made
a cameo appearance in The Hobbit.
Shaking things up
After Colbert became a household name thanks to his work on The Daily Show and The Colbert
Report, he went on to snag the coveted chair for The Late Show after David Letterman's
retirement.
And although that meant he had to put his ultra conservative screen persona to rest,
at least temporarily, he's still hung onto his status as a must-watch political humorist.
Colbert's unique brand of biting, mocking, and nuanced sociopolitical commentary has
occasionally gotten him into trouble, like when he refused to apologize for his scathing
May 2017 remarks about Donald Trump.
"You're not the POTUS, you're the BLOTUS.
You're the glutton with the button.
You're a regular Gorge Washington.
You're the Presidunce."
But despite the President's nay-saying, Colbert's coverage has become essential to fans and
Colbert has no intentions of backing down.
In fact, he's found more impact with putting his real opinions out there this time around.
He told NPR,
"I have no qualms about being sharp and satirical and highly opinionated.
It's much more enjoyable…and it's more honest."
"The President of the United States has personally come after me and my show and there's only
one thing to say: hehehhehe."
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