CBS has announced that Stephen Colbert will replace David Letterman as host of 'The Late Show', and that he'll be retiring his faux-Republican persona from 'The Colbert Report' and 'The Daily Show'.
So who IS the real Stephen Colbert? Can he still hold our attention when he's not pretending to be uber-Conservative? Yeah, probably. Here are a few examples of Colbert crushing it out of character.
When he won an Emmy Award in 2013, he thanked "anyone who's willing to talk to that stupid person I play on TV".
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Colbert appeared as himself at Slate's live Politcal Gabfest in New York last year, telling stories about Richard Nixon.
He's appeared multiple times on 'Meet The Press'; here he is switching in and out of character on the show in 2012.
He conducted a fascinating interview with America's favourite scientist, 'Cosmos' host Neil deGrasse Tyson, in 2010.
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In 2007, 'Talking Points Memo' went backstage at 'The Colbert Report' and caught the real Colbert explaining his OTT character to John Kerry.
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That same year, he opened up in a disarming interview with Larry King.
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Stepping in the wayback machine to 1998, here he is killing it during a guest spot on the first season of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'
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In 1997, Colbert reported for 'Good Morning America'.
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Appropriately enough, he's appeared out of character on 'The Late Show' before — in 2005, he talked to David Letterman about growing up with 10 brothers and sisters.
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So, yeah. He should be fine.
