Stephen Colbert May Not Be Allowed To Play “Stephen Colbert” On TV Anymore

Are you ready for one of the most confusing intellectual property stoushes of all time?

This week, Stephen Colbert told his Late Show viewers on CBS that he had been contacted by a lawyer from “another company” warning him to not reprise his character, “Stephen Colbert”.

“Stephen Colbert” is, of course, who Colbert famously played for many years on Comedy Central in The Colbert Report.

This version of “Stephen Colbert” is a right-wing blowhard; a satirical character modelled after Bill O’Reilly, who this week took the opportunity to point out that slaves were actually “well-fed” in response to Michelle Obama’s DNC speech. (Makes you wonder why you even need satirists.)

Anyway, for the first time since taking over the Late Show from David Letterman last year, Colbert reprised “Stephen Colbert” for the Republican National Convention – and was even joined by former Daily Show host Jon Stewart. (“Stephen Colbert” was born on Stewart’s show.)

But it now seems likely that Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, is not keen on Colbert playing “Stephen Colbert”, or using The Colbert Report’s old segment, “The Word” (where the iconic phrase “truthiness” was born).

"This is true, immediately after that show, CBS' top lawyer was contacted by the top lawyer for another company to say that the character Stephen Colbert is their intellectual property," he said on Wednesday. (The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed Viacom was the company that made the complaint.)

"So it is with a heavy heart that I announce that thanks to corporate lawyers, the character Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, will never be seen again."

After letting the boos of the audience sink in, he introduced them to the “identical twin cousin” of "Stephen Colbert", making his “first appearance on TV ever”. Regular Stephen Colbert then debuted a brand new segment, titled, “The Werd”.

Yes, this means there are now three Stephen Colberts running around late night television, as if this wasn't already confounding enough.

Will these subtle, barely distinguishable changes be enough for the real Stephen Colbert to avoid legal trouble?

THR points to copyright law’s “works made for hire”, which suggests Viacom can claim ownership of any work “prepared by an employee” during their time with the company. And yet, if Viacom sued, Colbert could try a “fair use” defence, which has worked in similar cases in the past (though, admittedly, there aren’t many cases similar to this especially unique one).

Hopefully this is all resolved soon enough, and we can let Colbert be Colbert, whatever that even means at this point.

Photo: CBS.