Colbert, seen in this file photo with another South Carolina boy.
If anyone doubted that Stephen Colbert was really one of us, this should settle it:
Episodes of “The Colbert Report” were canceled this week, reportedly because of the serious illness of Colbert’s 91-year-old mother, and fans have been showing their support for “a deeply decent guy.”
Several news outlets reported Friday on the illness of Colbert’s mother, Lorna, who incidentally is a resident of South Carolina — the state where her comedian son was running for office as “President of the United States of America of South Carolina.”
The comedian comes from a large Irish Catholic family, with 11 children. His father and two brothers were killed in a plane crash in 1974.
The Wednesday and Thursday tapings of the series were canceled at the last minute, with Comedy Central releasing only a short statement that cancellations were because of “unforseen circumstances.” Although sources close to the show say they anticipate returning to new episodes soon, there’s been no official statement from the comedian or his family.
Fans have been tweeting their words of support on Twitter; none are upset about the missed shows. “Stephen Colbert… is a deeply decent guy,” wrote one fan. “Hope everything is going well with our Mom. Your fans are all thinking about you,” wrote another….
He’s a good Southern boy after all; in spite of his funny way of talking.
Related Posts
He’s a good son, full stop. His regional roots have no bearing. Persons born or reared outside the South also care about their mothers, my Buffalo-born father among them.
Kathryn, it’s a folksy way of saying he’s not all Hollywood. Don’t get all touchy about it. (These people who aren’t multi-generational Southerners are SO touchy…)
I thought you graduated from high school in Hawaii?
I did. That was my third high school (and something like 14th school). I’m a Navy brat.
The first of my 3 high schools was Bennettsville HS. I was there for the 9th grade while my Dad was in Vietnam.
I was born in Bennettsville, and always spent my summers there (except during the couple of years we were in South America). So it’s the closest thing I have to a home town.
Adding to the confusion… my high school class ring is from Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida. That’s because for some idiotic reason we had to order rings in our junior year. I don’t have a ring from the school I graduated from — Radford High, where Burl and I were classmates.
Somebody needs to hip thestate.com to this; they’re still saying, “‘Colbert Report’ off air; Comedy Central mum.”
There’s a Web site for everything:
http://www.classringfinder.com/
I saw what The State had and thought how lazy someone was not to check further. Or at least know the South.
Brad I.love.that.tie.
The thing is, Brad, that kind of folksy chauvinism is at the root of a lot of what’s wrong here. We just want to do things the way we always did them, including treat whole classes of people as inferiors. Who cares if we’re at the bottom of all the good lists, etc.? We got our pride!
I’ve never thought he was “one of us.”
He’s funny – at times. No doubt about it.
But he seems more interested in making fun of South Carolina (and no doubt we deserve it sometimes) than really anything else.
Barry,
Poking fun at the ones we love the most seems to be a favorite Southern pasttime. Ever hear the words “Bless his/her heart” come out of the mouth of a relative?
My wife’s family has raised it to an artform.
I would argue that Colbert’s form of satire in the guise of agreement is perhaps one of the most Southern things on television.
TJ – yes- growing up and living in South Carolina all my life, I’ve heard “Bless his/her heart” many times.
However, the ones doing it lived here right along with me.
Colbert is funny, and smart. But I’ve always felt he was making fun of us more than he was anything else.
Now I’ll rip into South Carolina and some of our actions as quick as anyone. But I live here, and I try my best to change things for the better- not simply make fun from afar.