Television: The American Bald Ego

Leaving his perch at The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert is soaring to new heights of media parody

Stephen Colbert is sitting in his office, cutting up a take-out salad and telling me what a total jerk Stephen Colbert is. He's a hypocrite. A blowhard. Pompous, superficial and vain. He is "poorly informed but highly opinionated." Colbert is speaking about his on-air persona, the pundit and star of The Colbert Report, the spin-off of Comedy Central's hit fake-news series The Daily Show. Still, after a while, he stops himself. "I think I need to start calling him Col-bear," says the actor, using the correct pronunciation of his surname, "and me Col-bert. It's getting weird."

Weirder yet, people like that...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!