The Colbert Report () is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005 to December 18, 2014 for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor.

The Colbert Report satirized conservative personality-driven political pundit programs, and focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character first made appearances on the short-lived sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show in 1996, described as "a self-important, trench-coated reporter who does on-location stories in a way that suggests his own presence is the real scoop." Colbert joined Comedy Central's The Daily Show in 1997, a year following its launch, then hosted by Craig Kilborn. When Jon Stewart became the program's host in 1999, The Daily Show developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Colbert recalled that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy.  Colbert became a fixture on The Daily Show, occasionally hosting in Stewart's absence. In 2003, the program began running advertisements for a fictional program titled The Colbert Report, starring Colbert as a parody of cable news pundits. When fellow Daily Show star Steve Carell left to pursue a film and television career, Comedy Central made attempts to keep Colbert at the network. He pitched The Colbert Report to the channel in 2004. Stewart pushed Comedy Central to pick up the show, and Colbert was given an eight-week tryout. Following the show's immediate success, the show "quickly became a fixture in the late-night lineup." At its peak, the show averaged 1.5 million viewers each evening.  The fictional Colbert anchorman character became gradually toned down over the course of the show's run, as the host believed he would eventually need to move beyond it. He began to regard it as an act of discipline to perform as the character; he later remarked, "to model behavior, you have to consume that behavior on a regular basis. It became very hard to watch punditry of any kind, of whatever political stripe." With his contract set to end in December 2014, he had already decided to leave the show when he was contacted by CBS to replace David Letterman as the host of its Late Show franchise. The show's ending was announced concurrently with Colbert's jump to CBS in April 2014. The last episode aired on December 18, 2014. The show was replaced on Comedy Central's late-night lineup by The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, another spinoff of The Daily Show.

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The last episode aired on December 18, 2014. The show was replaced on Comedy Central's late-night lineup by The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, another spinoff of The Daily Show.