Stephen Colbert

Stephen Tyrone Colbert [ koʊlbɛər ] ( born May 13, 1964 in Washington, DC ) is an American comedian and satirist. He is best known for his appearances on the Daily Show and now as host of the program The Colbert Report. In this he plays the satirically exaggerated role of art figure of a demagogic, populist television presenter, who is also named Stephen Colbert (often with quotes referred to as " Stephen Colbert "). By, parody drives the reasoning right presenters, as are typical especially for Fox News to the extreme, Colbert attempted to debunk this in its contradictions. In 2007, he published a satirical book I Am America ( And So Can You! ), Which summarizes the central ideas of the character played by him. Mid-2011, he joined ( allegedly ) even in the presidential campaign and began to disclose the functions and dysfunctions of the American election campaign financing on the basis of self- founded campaign donations organizations.

Life

Colbert grew up in an Irish, Roman Catholic family in Charleston. He was the youngest of eleven children. His mother, Lorna Colbert (1920-2013) was a housewife and her father was a doctor and a leading member of the Medical University of South Carolina. In 1974, the father along with two of his sons, Peter and Paul, in a plane crash. The three were on their way to school enrollment.

In Charleston, Colbert attended the private Porter Gaud School. He then studied at Hampden - Sydney College and the School of Speech and Communication from Northwestern University, where he took acting lessons. During his studies, Colbert was a member of improvisational theater troupe at IO Chicago. After college he was a member of The Second City and took there also other lessons.

He is married to Evelyn McGee - Colbert, with whom he has three children. Colbert describes himself as a supporter of the Democrats.

Television career

Stephen Colbert was performer and author of the series Exit 57 (1995-1996), The Dana Carvey Show ( 1996) and Strangers with Candy ( 1999-2000). In the series Harvey Birdman and Crank Yankers he has regular guest roles. In addition, he has also appeared in Whose Line Is It Anyway? and worked as a writer for Saturday Night Live.

Large notoriety earned him his role in the satirical news program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central in 1997., Where he developed the fictional character " Stephen Colbert " and acted as a correspondent, reporting on events in the world. At first, " Stephen Colbert " came here - especially in war of words with Steve Carell - sometimes quite even for seemingly exaggerated liberal standpoints to even expose them; only after the end of Bill Clinton's presidency it became increasingly a parody decidedly right-wing populist positions. Another segment of the show, in which he appeared, was This Week in God, in which he grappled with current religious themes. In some editions of the show, was not for Jon Stewart available, he acted as moderator.

In 2005, Colbert left the Daily Show to produce its own spin -off for Comedy Central: Since October 2005, he hosted The Colbert Report (the two t at the end of both words are silent). Colbert parodied in populist right-wing commentators like Bill O'Reilly ( The O'Reilly Factor), Rush Limbaugh ( The Rush Limbaugh Show) Sean Hannity or ( Hannity and Hannity 's America ) by pretending to be one of them and by exaggerating their manipulative questioning technique exposes. The show has established itself within a few weeks as one of the most watched shows of the transmitter. A popular Colbert quote is: "I do not believe in the reality. She is well known for its left- liberal tendencies. "

In the first broadcast of "The Colbert Report" on 17 October 2005, he coined the word truthiness for a "truth " ( engl. truth ) that is not perceived by the mind, but only with "heart " or " belly". Truthiness was chosen by the American Dialect Society on 6 January 2006 word of the year 2005.

Time Magazine was one of Stephen Colbert in the spring of 2006 on the 100 most influential people of the year. On April 29, 2006 Colbert was allowed on the occasion of the traditional dinner of the White House Correspondents ' Association to deliver a speech in the presence of George W. Bush, which provided the basis of the satirical trimmed, but very violent attacks on the Bush administration for a great sensation, but very was judged differently: Bush -friendly commentators went over the speech part entirely or tried to present them as rude and unkomisch, whereas opponents of the Bush administration celebrated not only a scathing criticism of the government and the often all too uncritical media in Washington, but also a satirical and comedic masterpiece. The appearance was shortly after the most downloaded file in iTunes.

The audiobook version of his satirical book America Again: Re - becoming the Greatness We Never Were, which was released in late 2012, was awarded in the category of language at the Grammy Awards 2014. In the 2013 released movie The Hobbit - Smaug wasteland are Colbert and his kids to see in brief appearances in seaside town.

Policy

Colbert registered in 2008 as a Democratic candidate for the gubernatorial elections in South Carolina, where he opted for the Democrats despite his TV role as extremist Republicans - supposedly because the application fee was much higher among Republicans. He also appeared as an expert witness on at a Senate hearing in 2010 on the situation of illegal workers in agriculture. Both performances were considered satirical actions.

Mid-2011, Colbert joined the politics and founded a lobbying organization for the type of a super political action committees with the name Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow ( about: Americans for a better tomorrow, in the future). A super PAC can legally accept donations of any amount from individuals and corporations without the origin must be disclosed. Later, a second Super PAC was added. By means of these organizations he financed the election campaign TV commercials during the primaries in Iowa, called indirectly on the election of a Republican politician whose candidacy at this time was not yet officially and finally did not stand for election, and demanded against the offer of a generous donation to the Republican Party that their choice Congress should be named after him.

He accompanied all these activities in detail on his show and thus laid the viewers the possibility of campaign finance and manipulation open. Colbert: " The method of the super PACs is 100% legal and morally at least 10%. " When donors in the background to Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the basketball team Dallas Mavericks, his involvement but has not been officially confirmed and the idea behind the activities is just that "we 'll never know. "

In the event of a presidential candidacy, which presented as a way Colbert, he transferred in January 2012, the line of his two SuperPACS to Jon Stewart, to comply with the statutory independence of the PACs of candidates. 2012 Colbert was one of the organizers of the Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear ( Rally to restore sanity and / or fear), in Washington DC took place and should be a satirical counter-movement to Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally populist.