11 Things You Didn't Know About Stephen Colbert

It's not something that ever really comes up, but Colbert is actually completely deaf in his right ear. When he was a kid, Colbert underwent surgery to repair a perforated ear drum, but it ended up causing severe damage. He initially wanted to pursue a career in marine biology and scuba diving, but the damage to his ear was bad enough that he would never be able to do this.

"Now I can't get my head wet," he explained. "I mean, I can, but I can't really scuba dive or anything like that."

In his recent Howard Stern interview, Colbert expanded on this, saying, "I'm not only deaf, I don't have an eardrum in my right ear. [...] I had a problem since...probably since I was born. It's called a Cholesteatoma, it's a benign sort of tumor. It's basically, the skin on your ear's always growing to keep your eardrum soft. Mine grows in, it doesn't grow out."

Although he wasn't able to become a marine biologist, Colbert still enjoys going fishing to keep his love for the sea alive. He's also now able to do this trick with his ear which totally grosses everyone out.