‘The Colbert Report’ to return Wednesday following death of Stephen Colbert’s mother

For those of you wondering whether or not “The Colbert Report” will be back this week following the death of host Stephen Colbert’s mother last Wednesday, we now seem to have an answer for you: As this writing (and as confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter), Colbert’s series will air an all-new episode on Wednesday night featuring the Postal Service along with “Much Ado About Nothing” director Joss Whedon.

While Colbert tends to play a larger-than-life persona on Comedy Central, he is in reality a pretty quiet person who often avoids the spotlight when it comes to his actual life. When he took a brief hiatus from his show last year to take care of his ailing mother, his only public acknowledgement came via a tiny shout-out at the start of the show. We imagine that there will be something different (or possibly a title card) present for tonight, but at this point the news about the death in the family has come out via a newspaper obituary. Colbert has yet to release any sort of formal statement, and last Thursday’s show was canceled abruptly last week.

“The Colbert Report” remains an integral part of Comedy Central’s lineup, especially with Jon Stewart taking a leave of absence from “The Daily Show” in order to direct a feature film. In his absence, correspondent John Oliver has taken on the hosting duties, and the ratings have dipped slightly versus where they were in previous weeks. The two shows share a tremendous place in pop culture, and remain a primary source for many when it comes to their political news.

During the time in which Colbert has been away, new episodes have been replaced with repeats.

Photo: Comedy Central