Stephen Colbert’s mother, Lorna Colbert, died last week at the age of 92. Last night, The Colbert Report host returned after a brief leave of absence to be with her during her final days and he broke character to pay quick tribute to the woman who raised him. “It may sound greedy to want more days with a person who lived so long,” said Colbert, “but the fact that my mother was 92 does not diminish, it only magnifies, the enormity of the room whose door has not quietly shut.”
Last year, Colbert took a similar leave of absence when his mother got sick and recorded this message to her (and other mothers of South Carolina) upon his return.