ACTOR
Stephen Colbert
- Known for
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2000), Strangers with Candy (1999), The Love Guru (2008)
38 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Stephen Colbert is an actor best known for Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Strangers with Candy and The Love Guru.
All facts (38)
- #001
When Stephen Colbert was ten years old, his father and two of his brothers died in a plane crash. On September 11, 1974, they were aboard an Eastern Airlines DC-9 that went down in heavy fog while approaching Charlotte, NC. Of the 82 people on board, 72 were killed. In its report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that "the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's lack of altitude awareness at critical points during the approach due to poor cockpit discipline in that the crew did not follow prescribed procedures."
- #002
As a result of the plane crash that killed his father and two brothers, the Federal Aviation Administration created the "sterile cockpit" rule, which prohibits flight crews from engaging in any conversation or activity unrelated to flying duties while the aircraft is below 10,000 feet.
- #003
As a result of an operation he underwent in his youth, Stephen Colbert can fold his right ear inward and, when he squints, make it pop back out.
- #004
Every weekend he teaches Sunday School at his church, where he teaches his own personal salvation story and teaches the children spiritual songs.
- #005
The youngest of 11 children, Stephen served as an altar boy for 11 years.
- #006
"Truthiness," a word he coined himself, was named Word of the Year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society.
- #007
Although she was still a working actress at the time, Jennifer Garner babysat Stephen and his wife Evelyn's daughter after meeting them through guest roles on The Competition (1996).
- #008
Stephen has said that not all members of his family pronounce "Colbert" the way he does. Some pronounce the second syllable as "Burt."
- #009
Stephen frequently sings and dances on his television shows. In interviews he has said that he studied voice and ballet in college.
- #010
A new study conducted at George Mason University found that President Trump made 337 jokes about his first 100 days in office. [May 2017].
- #011
Stephen was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People. [2006].
- #012
His surname is actually pronounced "col burt," as it appears, but because his family is partly French and it sounded more sophisticated to his family, he has preferred "cole-bear" since college.
- #013
In the 1980s he attended a theater and speech class at Northwestern University in Chicago with his friend David Schwimmer.
- #014
He and Ted Danson are distant relatives, as revealed on the PBS series Puritans and Pioneers (2017).
- #015
All three of his children have appeared on The Daily Show (1996).
- #016
Stephen briefly worked as a reporter for Good Morning America (1975).
- #017
He worked on the writing staff of The Dana Carvey Show (1996) alongside Louis C.K., Charlie Kaufman and Robert Smigel.
- #018
Stephen has three children with his wife Evie McGee Colbert: daughter Madeleine Carlisle (b. 1995) and sons Peter McGee (b. 1998) and John Colbert (b. 2002).
- #019
Through Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Faces of America, Stephen learned that he is descended from a German family named Lederman. The family came to the United States and changed their name to Leatherman. The episode does not mention it, but another descendant, David Letterman, makes the two men eighth or ninth cousins.
- #020
In 1996 Stephen auditioned for the final callback auditions for SNL with Tracy Morgan.
- #021
Stephen Colbert's father, James, was an immunologist.
- #022
In 2006, he received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from Knox College in Galesburg, IL.
- #023
He occasionally filled in for Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show (1996) while Jon was busy with other things.
- #024
His sister Elizabeth Colbert Busch (aka Lulu) is a 2014 South Carolina Democratic congressional candidate. Her Republican opponent will be Governor Mark Sanford (April 2013).
- #025
His father was Irish on seven of eight sides, with his other roots English and German. His mother was entirely of Irish origin.
- #026
He is an alumnus of The Second City and the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, IL. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1986.
- #027
He is in the process of compiling news about every congressional district in the United States.
- #028
He voiced several characters on Comedy Central's Crank Yankers (2002).
- #029
His siblings, from oldest to youngest, are James Jr. ('Jimmy'), Edward ('Eddie/Ed'), Mary Colbert Denger, William ('Billy'), Margaret ('Margo'), Thomas ('Tommy'), Jay, Elizabeth ('Lulu'), Paul and Peter. Stephen is the youngest of eleven.
- #030
He was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list. [October 2007].
- #031
Early in his career, Colbert failed auditions for 21 Jump Street (1987), Less Than Zero (1987) and Road House (1989), among others.
- #032
He voiced some of the attack ads used for the 78th Annual Academy Awards (2006), hosted by Jon Stewart.
- #033
His show The Colbert Report (2005) averages 1.2 million viewers.
- #034
He waited tables for five years in his youth.
- #035
He is friends with Jon Stewart.
- #036
He wrote the book "Wigfield" together with his Strangers with Candy (1999) co-stars Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello.
- #037
Most of the programs he has appeared on are on Comedy Central. These shows are Exit 57 (1995), The Daily Show (1996), Strangers with Candy (1999) and The Colbert Report (2005).
- #038
He was nominated to the 2017 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Performing Arts category.
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