history, the George Peabody Award for “distinguished achievement and meritorious service by broadcasters” went to a fake news show, The Daily Show , for “Indecision 2000.”
Just as Colbert was settling into a steady role, he was stunned by 9/11. Ironically, the date marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of the Colbert family tragedy. Colbert’s sister Elizabeth was in Manhattan that morning in a building near the World Trade Center. Fleeing through the debris and chaos, she made it to the Port Authority terminal and took a bus home to Charleston to grieve with her mother. And as if the family had not suffered enough, the aging Lorna Colbert had recently endured another loss, that of her son Billy. The older brother whom Stephen acknowledged as “the joke teller” of the family was a lawyer for the U.S. Treasury Department. Stephen would always remember Billy’s love of W.C. Fields and for teaching his youngest brother to juggle. A stroke claimed William “Billy” Colbert at age forty-nine.
Colbert doubts that grief played much of a role in his decision to become a professional funnyman. “There’s a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone’s becoming a comedian, but I’m not sure that’s a proven equation in my case,” he told The New York Times . “I’m not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so. She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us.”
But the Stephen Colbert who speaks frankly about that 1974 loss of his father and two brothers said nothing about losing a third brother. His faith tested again, he strode into the new century with his persona firmly fixed. The grim nod. The pursed lips. The rigid, pointed finger. Still, Colbert the sketch comedian found time to pursue more side projects.
During the early Bush years, Colbert was busier than ever. His Daily Show work was getting him attention and jobs. He did voice-over work on cartoons and a video game, appeared on Law and Order and Curb Your Enthusiasm , and hosted two mockumentaries , one a rehash of his old stories and the other an On Air Guide to Getting on the Air . Then, in December 2002, NBC hired Colbert and Stewart to write a sitcom pilot. Set in Colbert’s beloved South Carolina, the show was designed to both eulogize and satirize the South, adding gay characters and ethnic jokes to some vague Mayberry R.F.D. send-up. NBC thought the script was “too vague” and canceled the project. Then, in 2003, Daily Show viewers were startled to see Colbert “searching for Mr. Goodwrench” in commercials for General Motors. Colbert was not proud. “I don’t think I can sell out any more than Mr. Goodwrench,” he admitted. “I reached an apogee of pimping.”
That same year, Colbert teamed with Sedaris and Dinello to write his first book, Wigfield , subtitled, The Can-Do Town That Just May Not . Wigfield struggled mightily to amuse readers and skewer small towns. The story was told by a purported journalist, Russell Hokes, whose literary tour of Wigfield was a hodgepodge of interviews, oral histories, newspaper articles: and first-person reporting. The message was simple: Small towners are hopeless hicks. That message did not go down well in 2003, as small-town America prepared for war in Iraq. Despite its authors’ fame and their nationwide tour in a stage version, Wigfield sold poorly.
But Colbert’s side projects were mere distractions, given his growing reputation on The Daily Show . “Whenever any of his stories ran,” former correspondent Bob Wiltfong remembered, “there was a huge reaction from the audience. The feeling among the rest of us was, ‘Why is this guy still on the show?’”
Common enemies and a sense of being the sharpest wits on the set cemented the friendship between Colbert and Stewart.
Just as Colbert was settling into a steady role, he was stunned by 9/11. Ironically, the date marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of the Colbert family tragedy. Colbert’s sister Elizabeth was in Manhattan that morning in a building near the World Trade Center. Fleeing through the debris and chaos, she made it to the Port Authority terminal and took a bus home to Charleston to grieve with her mother. And as if the family had not suffered enough, the aging Lorna Colbert had recently endured another loss, that of her son Billy. The older brother whom Stephen acknowledged as “the joke teller” of the family was a lawyer for the U.S. Treasury Department. Stephen would always remember Billy’s love of W.C. Fields and for teaching his youngest brother to juggle. A stroke claimed William “Billy” Colbert at age forty-nine.
Colbert doubts that grief played much of a role in his decision to become a professional funnyman. “There’s a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone’s becoming a comedian, but I’m not sure that’s a proven equation in my case,” he told The New York Times . “I’m not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so. She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us.”
But the Stephen Colbert who speaks frankly about that 1974 loss of his father and two brothers said nothing about losing a third brother. His faith tested again, he strode into the new century with his persona firmly fixed. The grim nod. The pursed lips. The rigid, pointed finger. Still, Colbert the sketch comedian found time to pursue more side projects.
During the early Bush years, Colbert was busier than ever. His Daily Show work was getting him attention and jobs. He did voice-over work on cartoons and a video game, appeared on Law and Order and Curb Your Enthusiasm , and hosted two mockumentaries , one a rehash of his old stories and the other an On Air Guide to Getting on the Air . Then, in December 2002, NBC hired Colbert and Stewart to write a sitcom pilot. Set in Colbert’s beloved South Carolina, the show was designed to both eulogize and satirize the South, adding gay characters and ethnic jokes to some vague Mayberry R.F.D. send-up. NBC thought the script was “too vague” and canceled the project. Then, in 2003, Daily Show viewers were startled to see Colbert “searching for Mr. Goodwrench” in commercials for General Motors. Colbert was not proud. “I don’t think I can sell out any more than Mr. Goodwrench,” he admitted. “I reached an apogee of pimping.”
That same year, Colbert teamed with Sedaris and Dinello to write his first book, Wigfield , subtitled, The Can-Do Town That Just May Not . Wigfield struggled mightily to amuse readers and skewer small towns. The story was told by a purported journalist, Russell Hokes, whose literary tour of Wigfield was a hodgepodge of interviews, oral histories, newspaper articles: and first-person reporting. The message was simple: Small towners are hopeless hicks. That message did not go down well in 2003, as small-town America prepared for war in Iraq. Despite its authors’ fame and their nationwide tour in a stage version, Wigfield sold poorly.
But Colbert’s side projects were mere distractions, given his growing reputation on The Daily Show . “Whenever any of his stories ran,” former correspondent Bob Wiltfong remembered, “there was a huge reaction from the audience. The feeling among the rest of us was, ‘Why is this guy still on the show?’”
Common enemies and a sense of being the sharpest wits on the set cemented the friendship between Colbert and Stewart.
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