Stephen Colbert: I enjoy playing a jerk

[susanbanks44]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stephen Colbert was raised in South Carolina to be a Southern gentleman. But he spends his days being a jerk. It must be tough.

Not really, says the Comedy Central star.

"I was taught to be nice, so it's not in my nature to be a jerk," he told a crowd of fans over the weekend at the New Yorker Festival. "But I do enjoy it."

Colbert figures that's because he's embarrassment-proof. "There's an essential embarrassment to being a jerk, and I just don't get embarrassed about things," he explained.

The host of "The Colbert Report" spent 90 minutes out of character, regaling interviewer Ariel Levy about how his career was launched and deconstructing the process of playing the right-wing blowhard pundit named Stephen Colbert.

More:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/06/colbert.fun.playing.jerk.ap/

[SmokingJacket]

1. Apparently his mother died when he was a child.

I read it in an interview. After that, he said, he didn't really care about the small stuff anymore. So he doesn't get embarrassed, doesn't mind what people think of him.

Really an interesting fellow, and a good guy.

[MichellesBFF]

3. Colbert

Actually his father and 2 of his brothers died in a plane crash.

[SmokingJacket]

4. Thanks for the correction; I read it a while ago! nt

[pokerfan]

5. The crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_212

[baldguy]

2. And all this time I thought he was playing Bill O'Reilly.

[liberal texan]

6. same thing

[baldguy]

7. Notice he always calls BillO "Papa Bear"?

And we all know hoe Stephen Colbert feels about bears, don't we?