Catherine M. Andronik

Stephen Colbert

A Biography

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book explores how comedian Stephen Colbert's satiric views of American life have captured the imagination of viewers around the world-and sharpened these individuals' own critical interpretations and opinions on current events.

Produktdetails

• Greenwood Biographies
• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Seitenzahl: 168
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. Juni 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 14mm
• Gewicht: 416g
• ISBN-13: 9780313386282
• ISBN-10: 0313386285
• Artikelnr.: 34007520

Inhaltsangabe

Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American comedian and actor who has built a
following around the character he created-a character who is also named
Stephen Colbert. Since 2005, he has hosted an Emmy-winning television show,
The Colbert Report, on the cable channel Comedy Central. Colbert's
character is a satirical version of conservative political pundits like
Bill O'Reilly. Colbert the real person claims two honorary doctorates and
Jordanian knighthood, and he sometimes does add the titles Dr. and Dr., Sir
to his name, though usually as a joke. Colbert was born on May 13, 1964,
the 11th and last child in his family. He grew up in Charleston, South
Carolina. When he was 10 years old, his father and two brothers were killed
in a plane crash as they were traveling to Connecticut to drop off the boys
at boarding school. As all the other siblings were older, Stephen lived
alone with his mother until he went away to college. Although the Colbert
family is Catholic, Stephen attended Porter-Gaud School, a private
Episcopal high school in Charleston. While in his teens, he became
interested in drama and theater. For two years he attended Sydney-Hampden
College in Virginia, an all-male institution, where he studied philosophy.
Unhappy there, he transferred to Northwestern University in Evanston,
Illinois, as a communications/theater major. Though his intent was to
become a serious dramatic actor, friends drew him into Chicago's rich world
of improvisational theater. After graduation from Northwestern in 1986, he
joined Second City, the premier American training ground for
improvisational comedians. With Second City, he was in a traveling company
with the late Chris Farley (of Saturday Night Live), Amy Sedaris, and Paul
Dinello and served as understudy for future coworker Steve Carell. Colbert
found kindred spirits in Sedaris and Dinello. The three moved to New York,
where they wrote and acted in several short-lived series for Comedy
Central. Exit 57 looked at the weird and wacky lives of a group of young
people. Strangers with Candy, their most successful endeavor, was about a
problem teen who returns to high school decades later to get her diploma
and is now a problem adult; it spawned a movie of the same title. If one
watches the credits for Strangers with Candy, one might notice a certain
Evelyn McGee-aka Mrs. Stephen Colbert. McGee was also a Charleston native;
the two met in 1990, married, and have raised a family of three very
non-show-business children. Colbert was also involved in writing for the
short-lived The Dana Carvey Show. Among Comedy Central's programs in the
late 1990s was The Daily Show, hosted at first by Craig Kilborn. The
program was a send-up of real newscasts, complete with a team of
correspondents. For a short time in the Kilborn years, those correspondents
included Colbert. He also tried his hand at real news for ABC's Good
Morning, America, where he covered humorous human interest stories. Only
one of his pieces actually aired. In 1999, Craig Kilborn left The Daily
Show and was replaced by Jon Stewart, an actor and stand-up comedian who
had previously hosted a talk show on MTV. Reluctantly, Colbert accepted an
offer to rejoin the cast of The Daily Show. With the smart, biting wit of
Stewart at the helm, the show skyrocketed to success. Colbert began
developing his character, a "poorly informed, high-status idiot," as a foil
to Stewart. As many of The Daily Show's other correspondents-Steve Carell,
Ed Helms, Rob Corddry-left the show for other movie or television projects,
Comedy Central looked for a way to keep Colbert in its stable. What
developed was a Daily Show spinoff, The Colbert Report. The Colbert Report
parodies the shows of such pundits as Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.
Colbert proclaims his conservative version of the truth loudly and
bombastically and refuses to be swayed from his beliefs by mere facts. His
guests on the show have run the gamut from politicians to scientists to
rock bands, from the sublime to the ridiculous. None are spared from
Colbert's sharp tongue. The show engendered a fan following, known as
Colbert Nation, which wields considerable clout in the real world. The real
Stephen Colbert should not be mistaken for the character of the same name;
while there is some overlap between the two, they are not the same. Both
are proud, vocal Catholics; the real Stephen Colbert actually teaches
Sunday school without his trademark irony. Whereas the character is
staunchly Republican, the real Stephen Colbert holds a more Democratic
views. And sometimes it is difficult to say whether an accomplishment
belongs to the man or the character. Queen Noor of Jordan, for instance,
knighted Stephen on one episode of his show-but, since he was in character,
is he entitled to be called Sir, or just his character? He holds two
honorary doctorates of fine arts, one from Knox College, the other from his
alma mater, Northwestern University. Colbert lives with his wife and three
children in New Jersey, a short commute to the Manhattan studio where The
Colbert Report is taped.