Stephen Colbert (character) - Non-fictional Elements

Non-fictional Elements

Certain elements of the character are drawn from the real Colbert's personal life. Both the real Colbert and the character were raised in Charleston, South Carolina; both are the youngest of 11 children; both played Dungeons & Dragons as teenagers; and both are practicing Roman Catholics. Colbert's own interest in and knowledge of religion, science fiction and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings story will often show through in the Report. His character has a chocolate portrait of Viggo Mortensen (who portrayed Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films) in a place of honor on his shelf; Mortensen briefly reprised the role of Aragorn in the Report's September 13, 2007 episode. He also owns a Sting sword presented to him by Peter Jackson.

Occasionally, Colbert will mention his real-life siblings on the show. In one episode, he placed his brother Ed, a lawyer who advises the International Olympic Committee, "On Notice" for refusing to grant the show the rights to air footage of a dispute between two American speed skaters. Ed later appeared at the start of the February 22, 2010 edition advising Stephen on how to cover the Vancouver Winter Olympics since his character doesn't have the television rights to the games. However, footage from the Richmond Olympic Oval was used since Stephen was named a special advisor to USA Speedskating. Generally, journalists covering the Olympics don't have access to the venues unless their employer has the rights to Olympic TV coverage, and can't show moving video coverage of any official Olympic event unless they have permission from the rights holder. When his sister Elizabeth Colbert Busch declared her intention to run for congress, he mentioned the event. Later, when she was nominated to run against Mark Sanford and the MSNBC show Morning Joe declared their support for Sanford and mentioned Colbert, he defended his sister's campaign.

In an appearance at Harvard University in 2006, Colbert revealed that his character's fear of bears was in part inspired by a recurring nightmare he has had, in which a bear is standing between him and his goal. The character's phobia, which was initially referenced in the show's first "ThreatDown" skit, was originally slated to be a fear of alligators. By the time the Report went to air, however, the alligator story was several weeks old, and the writers chose to use a more recent news item involving a bear in its place.

After Colbert received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Knox College, the show began listing his name in the ending credits as "Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A." even though using both the honorific prefix and post-nominal letters is incorrect. During the show, the character will sometimes refer to the degree and the qualifications he mistakenly believes it bestows upon him.

In May 2007, Colbert was voted the "second most influential person in the world" by a Time magazine online poll. The first spot was taken by Rain, a young Korean pop star with a large following in Asia and the United States. Colbert then declared Rain his "arch-nemesis" and began mentioning him frequently on the Report. Colbert filmed a satirical music video poking fun at Rain's popular single "How to Avoid the Sun" and referencing several stereotypical South Korean dishes and products. The one-sided feud eventually culminated in Colbert challenging Rain to a competition on air. After telling Colbert "not to quit his day job", Rain appeared in a short segment on the show and competed (and won) a DDR dance-off with Colbert. Both have been defeated by Shigeru Miyamoto in recent polls, though they still continue to be strong contenders.

On June 21, 2007, Colbert broke his left wrist on the set of the Report while performing his warm-up for the show. This quickly became a regular source of comedy on the show as the self-absorbed character requested his audience send flowers, launched a campaign against Hollywood's supposed glorification of "wrist violence", and began a "wrist awareness" campaign with "WristStrong" silicone bracelets. Although his wrist has now healed, he continues to wear and promote his "WristStrong" bracelets. On August 23, 2007, the cast was removed on air and was put up for auction to the general public, complete with celebrity signatures, on eBay, where it achieved a winning bid of $17,200. All of the proceeds from both the cast and the bracelets were donated to the Yellow Ribbon Fund.