ewart, Colbert's former Daily Show colleague, claimed that he had introduced O'Brien to the public on MTV's The Jon Stewart Show, and thus, by his logic, Stewart was responsible for Huckabee's success. This sparked a briefly recurring mock feud between Colbert, O'Brien, and Stewart—during which they appeared on each other's shows—which culminated in a three-way brawl on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 4, 2008.[26] Episodes[edit]

e picket line to appear on the show, including Katrina vanden Heuvel and Naomi Klein.[25] At one stage, pitched as an effort to fill time on the show, Colbert lashed out at fellow late night host Conan O'Brien, who had also recently returned to air without his writers, for claiming to have elevated the popularity—or "made"—presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, which Colbert's character had frequently claimed credit for in the past. In response, Jon Stewart, Colbert's former Daily Show colleague, claimed that he had introduced O'Brien to the public on MTV's The Jon Stewart Show, and thus, by his logic, Stewart was responsible for Huckabee's success. This sparked a briefly recurring mock feud between Colbert, O'Brien, and Stewart—during which they appeared on each other's shows—which culminated in a three-way brawl on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 4, 2008.[26]
Episodes[edit]

Main article: List of The Colbert Report episodes
Stephen Colbert character[edit]



Stephen Colbert as the fictional Stephen Colbert
Main article: Stephen Colbert (character)
The Stephen Colbert character is a fictional character portrayed by comedian and actor Stephen Colbert. The character is a caricature of news pundits such as Stone Phillips, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Geraldo Rivera, whose shows focus on "bluster and personality".[4][10] Colbert's character, a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is right-wing, egomaniacal, fact-averse ("factose intolerant"), God-fearing, and hyper-patriotic. He claims to be an independent who is often mistaken for a Republican, but uniformly despises liberals and generally agrees with the actions and decisions of George W. Bush and the Republican Party. This is evidenced by one of the questions that he asks of many of his guests: "George W. Bush: great President, or the greatest President?"[27]
The character's self-aggrandizing style includes frequent promotion of an extensive range of fictional merchandising and products, including perfumes, sci-fi novels, medications, his own "man seed", and other products, all of which are either produced or endorsed by Colbert. He has also convinced his viewers, whom he addresses as "the Colbert Nation", to vote for him in various public naming polls: the mascot of the Saginaw Spirit, an Ontario Hockey League team, has been named after him (Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle).[28]
Colbert's character holds a recurring grudge against everything related to France and the French language. Ironically, he pronounces both his Irish[29] last name