Short answers, pulled from the story.
Stephen Colbert lost his father and two brothers on the 11th of September 1974 during the Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 disaster. The ten-year-old Stephen Colbert was the youngest of eleven children and survived the crash that occurred while his family was en route to enroll in a private school.
Stephen Colbert attended Hampden-Sydney College where he majored in philosophy. He initially rejected the Second City theater group before accepting a job there due to financial necessity and meeting future collaborators Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello.
The Colbert Report premiered on the 17th of October 2005 and averaged 1.2 million viewers in its first week. The show became one of Comedy Central's highest-rated programs and featured a blustery right-wing pundit persona that parodied figures like Bill O'Reilly.
Stephen Colbert raised over $68,000 for classrooms through Donorschoose.org during his 2007 fictional presidential campaign. The campaign also included a straw poll that raised $185,000 for Pennsylvania schools and a legal battle to get on the ballot which was refused by the South Carolina Democratic Party.
CBS announced on the 17th of July 2025 that it would end The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May 2026. The decision cited high production costs and declining advertising revenue and marked the end of a 33-year run for the Late Show franchise.
Stephen Colbert is a practicing Roman Catholic who has taught Sunday school and is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church. He has been married to Evelyn McGee-Colbert since 1993 and has three children.