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Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an Emmy and Peabody award winning American comedian, satirist, actor, and writer known for his portrayal of uninformed opinion leaders and deadpan comedic delivery. Colbert became interested in improvisational theater when he met famed Second City director Del Close while attending Northwestern University. He first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago. Colbert also wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show before collaborating with Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris on the cult television series Strangers with Candy. He gained considerable attention for his role on the latter. It was his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's news-parody series The Daily Show, however, that first introduced him to a wide audience. In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host The Colbert Report. The Colbert Report is a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows. The series has established itself as one of Comedy Central's highest-rated series, earning Colbert three Emmy nominations and an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in 2006. Colbert was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2006. His book, I Am America (And So Can You!) was No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List.