• Posted December 13, 2023

Stephen Colbert Returns to Late Night Show After Ruptured Appendix

Comedian Stephen Colbert returned to his popular late night talk show this week after recovering from a ruptured appendix he suffered roughly three weeks ago.

During his monologue on Monday, the talk show host told the audience he was taping back-to-back episodes around Nov. 20 when he experienced almost unbearable pain.

"I was in a heap of trouble," he said.

Band leader Louis Cato added, "I knew something was wrong when, for the first time in almost nine years, you had to rehearse the monologue sitting at the desk with a barf bucket next to you."

Colbert was trying to make up for time lost to a one-week bout with COVID and the five-month writers' strike, NBC News reported.

"The pain was manageable," Colbert said. "It only hurt when I moved. And when I didn't."

After the taping, Colbert said his driver urged them to head to a hospital, with his wife calling and endorsing the idea.

That's where Colbert was diagnosed with a ruptured appendix, likely the result of viral, bacterial or parasitic infection, or possibly a blockage in the appendix, NBC News reported.

When an appendix bursts or develops holes or tears in its walls, that allows stool, mucus and infection to leak into the belly, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Surgery is often necessary to stop or prevent the infection from spreading and becoming deadly.

Recovery, Colbert said, involved potent pain medications, but there was an upside: The comedian noted he lost 14 pounds during the ordeal.

More information

Visit Johns Hopkins Medicine for more on appendicitis.

SOURCE: NBC News