Featured Session: Stephen Colbert
Emmy and Peabody Award-winning host Stephen Colbert took over as host of CBS’s THE LATE SHOW on September 8, 2015. Best known for his Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report,” Colbert is also a best-selling author and accomplished actor, writer, producer and comedian.
On Sunday, September 17, 2017 Colbert hosted the 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on the Network. THE LATE SHOW received three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Variety Series, Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series. In addition to the three nominations for THE LATE SHOW, Colbert and his staff also received three nominations for the live election night special he hosted on SHOWTIME.
From its debut, “The Colbert Report” was a critical and cultural success, winning two Peabody Awards and earning 37 Emmy Award nominations. The series won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. Prior to hosting “The Colbert Report,” Colbert spent eight years as the longest-tenured correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” THE LATE SHOW has carried on this success, earning a nomination for a 2016 Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Comedy/Variety Talk Series.
Colbert began his career in television after graduating from Northwestern University and joining Chicago’s famed Second City improv troupe. It was there he met Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello, with whom he created and starred in the half-hour sketch comedy series “Exit 57.” The trio went on to create the live-action narrative series and cult hit “Strangers with Candy.” Also, Colbert was a cast member and writer for the variety series “The Dana Carvey Show” and a writer for “Saturday Night Live.” His television acting credits include guest roles on “The Mindy Project,” “House of Cards,” “The Office,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” Colbert will serve as Executive Producer on a half-hour animated series centered on the Trump White House for Showtime, which is slated to premiere in the fall.
A celebrated author, Colbert contributed to “America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction,” which topped “The New York Times” Bestseller List for 15 consecutive weeks. His first solo book, “I Am America (And So Can You!),” spent 29 weeks on “The New York Times” Bestseller List in 2007, debuting and occupying the #1 spot for 13 weeks. His second book, “America Again: Re-Becoming The Greatness We Never Weren’t,” released in October 2012, spent 17 consecutive weeks on “The New York Times” Bestseller List and earned him a Grammy Award in 2014 in the category of Best Spoken Word Album for the audiobook. In May 2012, Colbert released his first children’s book, “I Am A Pole (And So Can You!).” Also, he co-authored the critically acclaimed book “Wigfield.” In September 2017, Simon & Schuster (a division of CBS Corporation) will release “Stephen Colbert’s Midnight Confessions,” a book and audio edition based on Colbert’s popular “Midnight Confessions” segment on THE LATE SHOW. In 2018 Stephen his “Late Show” staff wrote and illustrated Whose Boat Is This Boat? Comments That Don’t Help in the Aftermath of a Hurricane, a picture book made entirely of quotes from President Donald Trump in the wake of Hurricane Florence. 100% of the proceeds have been donated to hurricane relief and World Central Kitchen. As of November 2019 over $2 million has been raised.
In 2010, Colbert received three Emmy Award nominations and won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!,” the album from his one-hour musical holiday special on “The Colbert Report.” In 2011, Colbert starred as Harry in the New York Philharmonic’s presentation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.”
More than an entertainer, Colbert has drawn on his comedic talents to impact culture in extraordinary ways over the past decade. In 2011, he was granted permission by the Federal Election Committee to organize his own Political Action Committee, “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.” In 2009, “The Colbert Report” traveled to Iraq on a USO Tour titled “Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando” to tape and perform shows in front of the troops, becoming the first television show in USO history to produce a full week of shows in a combat zone. In 2007, he launched a brief presidential bid but withdrew after being denied a place on the ballot of the South Carolina Democratic Party. The success of “The Colbert Report” has allowed Colbert to lend his name to things such as a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor, Americone Dream; a Virgin America jet, Air Colbert; and a NASA treadmill called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (C.O.L.B.E.R.T.). Colbert Nation sponsored the U.S. Speed Skating team for the 2010 Olympics.
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