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Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert, November 2007
Birth name	Stephen Tyrone Colbert
Born	May 13, 1964 (1964-05-13) (age 44) Washington, D.C., USA
Medium	Theatre, Television, Film, Books
Nationality	United States of America
Years active	1984–present
Genres	Sketch comedy, Improvisational comedy, Character comedy, Political satire/News satire
Subject(s)	American culture, Popular culture, Current events, Mass media/News media, American politics, American conservatism, The Christian Right, Political Punditry, Egomania, Xenophobia, Anti-Intellectualism
Influences	Don Novello, Bill Cosby,[1] George Carlin, Dean Martin,[2] Jon Stewart,[3] Steve Martin[4]
Influenced	Rob Corddry,[5] Ed Helms,[5] Aasif Mandvi[6]
Spouse	Evelyn McGee-Colbert (3 children)
Notable works and roles	Chuck Noblet in Strangers with Candy Stephen Colbert in The Daily Show and The Colbert Report Writer, I Am America (And So Can You!) Co-writer, America (The Book) Phil Ken Sebben and Myron Reducto in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Signature
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program 2004, 2005, 2006 The Daily Show 2008 The Colbert Report

Stephen Tyrone Colbert (pronounced /ko???b??/;^[7] born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, satirist, actor and writer, known for his ironic style (particularly in his portrayal of uninformed opinion leaders), and for his deadpan comedic delivery.^[2]

Colbert originally studied to be an actor, but became interested in improvisational theatre when he met famed Second City director Del Close while attending Northwestern University. He first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago; among his troupe mates were comedians Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris, with whom he developed the critically-acclaimed sketch comedy series Exit 57.

Colbert also wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show before collaborating with Sedaris and Dinello again on the cult television series Strangers with Candy. He gained considerable attention for his role on the latter as closeted, gay history teacher Chuck Noblet. It was his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's news-parody series The Daily Show, however, that first introduced him to a wide audience.

In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host a spin-off series, The Colbert Report. Following The Daily Show's news-parody concept, The Colbert Report is a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows such as The O'Reilly Factor. Since its debut, the series has been successful, establishing itself as one of Comedy Central's highest-rated series, earning Colbert three Emmy nominations and an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in 2006. Colbert was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2006.^[8] His book, I Am America (And So Can You!), was No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller List.