The Colbert Report

By: Daniel Schorn

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Police and firefighters investigate the scene where four people were found dead at a house in Salem, Ore., on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Salem police say five people have died in what they believe was a murder-suicide. The police told the Salem Statesman Journal the bodies of a woman and three children were found in a house that burned Tuesday morning in northeast Salem. They say the womanâs husband was been found dead in a vehicle near Cottage Grove. None of the victims was immediately identified. (AP Photo/Statesman Journal, Timothy J. Gonzalez) (TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ)

Colbert looks to the very fount of truthiness for inspiration: Bill O'Reilly.

"Apart from the substance which you in a sense borrow from these guys, what about mannerisms?" Safer asked.

"Volume is very important," Colbert answered. "The only real way to tell your audience what's important is what you say loudest. I can say it up here. Or I could say it down here. But I will cut off your mic, Sir. Get, shut up. Shut up, Safer," he joked in character.

Skewering the media and politicians of every stripe is nothing new for Colbert. For five years, he was a correspondent on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show."

Colbert says he modeled his character on "The Daily Show" on Stone Phillips, "because he's the perfect, manly newsman package."

Phillips also has a perfect name, according to Colbert. "Stone. Shale. Bedrock. Gypsum. And he's got this fantastic neck and he uses it to assure people."

Getting to be the star of his own show has taken Colbert almost two decades. He started with Chicago's "Second City" improv troupe, and worked for "Saturday Night Live" and several cable comedy shows. He had one stint as a real reporter for ABC's "Good Morning America" — a one-story career.

"Fake news executives are nicer than real news executives, though real news executives are funnier than fake news executives," Colbert explains. "They don't know they're being funny."

Colbert's real life is as unglamorous as it gets. He's married with three children and works very long days. Fake news is serious business, and it takes a staff of 80 to cover the realm of truthiness.

Colbert writes a lot of what goes on the air and fine tunes everything. He acknowledges he has the great advantage of using every dirty trick in terms of editing, something which Safer says traditional news programs are deprived of.

"So you're not going to use any dirty tricks in this interview. At no point am I going to be misquoted or edited to say one thing to a different question?" Colbert asked Safer.

"Not. Never intentionally," Safer replied.

"Really, you really ought to try it. It saves you a lot of work," Colbert joked.