One Friday in early March, I left the office for lunch not knowing quite what toexpect. I was meeting Stephen Colbert; about whom I knew what most of you know:that he got his start with Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" before developing acharacter imaginatively named "StephenColbert," a faux-conservative talk-showhost whose "The Colbert Report" is among the most influential broadcasts in American politics. I had appeared on Colbert's show twice (I was terrified both times), but had only ehatted with him briefly, and - in a note for the small-worlddepartment - had in fact spent more time with his in-laws, whom I met on severaldifferent occasions in the South. (They, like Colbert, are from South Carolina.)I knew he was a devout Catholic and a cultural phenomenon. It was not muchto go on, because, in my experience, performers can be shy when they are offstage,as though they need to conserve all they can in order to make the show work.
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