Stephen Colbert is 'America's Cool Pastor'

A recent article by Splitsider extols the virtue of Stephen’s religious faith and examines its impact on the Report. At the end, the author Devin Klos reveals a personal interaction with Stephen that is quite touching.

The Colbert Report’s chief mission, much like The Daily Show’s, is to expose truths within our society’s machinations (and make us laugh, obviously). Each night, they attempt to pull the curtain back to reveal that the all powerful Oz is just a man with special effects and a megaphone. Whereas most comedians go with the easy joke that religion is BS, that God is another version of this Oz to control the masses, Colbert wants us to look harder and realize that it’s the message and not the megaphone that matters.

Many years ago, I worked as an intern at The Daily Show. It was among the happiest achievements of my young life to that point. I was more than a bit star-struck to be in a space among so many people I respected and admit to being tongue-tied and feeling unworthy in such company. One afternoon, Stephen Colbert came in to the office. His show was about to premiere so he hadn’t spent much time in our studio. As he walked past me at my cubicle, he stopped and said, “You’re a new face, what’s your name?” I didn’t know what to really say, so I replied, “Oh, I’m just an intern.”

Colbert looked at me a moment and then said: “Just an intern? Hey, look, everybody starts somewhere. I was just an understudy at one point, but that’s just a point in time. It’s not about where you are now, or even where you hope to go, it’s who you are that matters. I’m Stephen, who are you?” I introduced myself and we shook hands. “Don’t let your place in the world dictate who you are to anyone. We all have the same merit.” Then he was gone, but his words lingered.

Full article: Splitsider