10 Incredible Stephen Colbert Moments That Prove He’s Perfect For The Late Show

On the very first episode of The Colbert Report, Colbert coined a word that soon became Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. Within the first half hour of being on the air, he was already changing the English language.

In this still iconic first segment of The Word, Colbert establishes himself as one of the great political satirists of all time, defining truthiness as something that feels true even if it isn't. He goes on about how he doesn't trust books, and declaring that the truth comes from the gut. All you have to do is feel that something is true, and that's more important than actually backing things up with logic or reason. "What about Iraq," he asks. "If you think about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces to the rationale for war, but doesn't taking Saddam out feel like the right thing?"

Colbert goes further than mocking the Bush administration, also taking down news pundits whose shows are based entirely on emotion and not on actually reporting facts. "Anyone can read the news to you," he says. "I promise to feel the news at you." Colbert won't be bringing this character with him to Late Show, of course, but just the fact that he made such an impact in his first half hour on the air makes abundantly clear how important of a figure he is.