The Colbert Report/2008

2008
The Colbert Report
Season Premiere	January 7, 2008
Season Finale	December 11, 2008
Episode Count	159 + 2 specials
Previous 2007	Next 2009

2008 is the fourth year of The Colbert Report and began on January 7, 2008.

When the season premiered in January it was without its writing staff. Like The Daily Show and other late night talk programs, The Colbert Report was forced into repeats by the Writers Guild strike in November 2007. In December 2007, Comedy Central announced that both programs would return to the air, despite the lack of a resolution.

In order to compensate for the inability to use written material, several minor changes were made to the series. Though it still resembles its pre-strike form, each episode typically has two to three interviews instead of one. The main interview, for which episodes are titled, still take place in the "interview area" while there are some secondary interviews done from the desk. Additionally, the opening pre-credits segment has been cut, as well as recurring segments like The Word.

The writers returned to the show after the strike was ended on February 13, 2008.

Episodes

#	#	Title/Guest			Airdate
332	1	Richard Freeman			January 7, 2008
333	2	Gary Rosen			January 8, 2008
334	3	Matt Taibbi			January 9, 2008
335	4	Muhammad Yunus			January 10, 2008
336	5	Neil Shubin			January 14, 2008
337	6	Jared Cohen			January 15, 2008
338	7	Deborah Tannen			January 16, 2008
339	8	David Levy			January 17, 2008
340	9	Eric Weiner			January 21, 2008
341	10	Andrew Young			January 22, 2008
342	11	Andrew McLean			January 23, 2008
343	12	Charles Nesson			January 24, 2008
344	13	Rick Warren			January 28, 2008
345	14	Alex Ross			January 29, 2008
346	15	Frans de Waal			January 30, 2008
347	16	Andrew Napolitano			January 31, 2008
348	17	Jacob Weisberg			February 4, 2008
349	18	Bob Dole			February 5, 2008
350	19	Tad Devine			February 6, 2008
351	20	Mark Moffett			February 7, 2008
352	21	Philip Zimbardo			February 11, 2008
353	22	Lisa Randall			February 12, 2008
354	23	Richard Thompson Ford			February 13, 2008
355	24	Leonard Nimoy			February 14, 2008
356	25	Henry Louis Gates Jr.			February 26, 2008
357	26	Tony Snow			February 27, 2008
358	27	Ingrid Newkirk			February 28, 2008
359	28	Shashi Tharoor			March 3, 2008
360	29	Jennifer 8. Lee			March 4, 2008
361	30	Gregory Rodriguez			March 5, 2008
362	31	John Legend			March 6, 2008
363	32	George McGovern			March 10, 2008
364	33	Geraldo Rivera			March 11, 2008
365	34	Howard Kurtz			March 12, 2008
366	35	Sudhir Venkatesh			March 13, 2008
367	36	Samantha Power			March 17, 2008
368	37	Susan Jacoby			March 18, 2008
369	38	Dee Dee Myers			March 19, 2008
370	39	Robin Wright			March 20, 2008
371	40	Eric Alterman			March 31, 2008
372	41	Van Jones			April 1, 2008
373	42	R.E.M.			April 2, 2008
374	43	Clay Shirky			April 3, 2008
375	44	Jesse Ventura			April 7, 2008
376	45	Madeleine Albright			April 8, 2008
377	46	Jeff Gore			April 9, 2008
378	47	Robin Wright			April 10, 2008
The Colbert Report in Philadelphia
379	48	Chris Matthews			April 14, 2008
380	49	The Roots			April 15, 2008
381	50	Ed Rendell			April 16, 2008
382	51	Patrick Murphy			April 17, 2008
383	52	Bernie Sanders			April 21, 2008
384	53	Susan Jacoby			April 22, 2008
385	54	Mitch Albom			April 23, 2008
386	55	Maria Shriver			April 24, 2008
387	56	Leslie Feist			April 28, 2008
388	57	Anne Lamott			April 29, 2008
389	58	Noah Feldman			April 30, 2008
390	59	James Kunstler			May 1, 2008
391	60	Carl Hiaasen			May 5, 2008
392	61	Nathan Gunn			May 6, 2008
393	62	George Johnson			May 7, 2008
394	63	Arianna Huffington			May 8, 2008
395	64	Mehmet Oz			May 12, 2008
396	65	Jennifer Hooper McCarty			May 13, 2008
397	66	Grover Norquist			May 14, 2008
398	67	Andrei Cherny			May 15, 2008
399	68	Brian Greene			May 27, 2008
400	69	Claire McCaskill			May 28, 2008
401	70	David Sirota			May 29, 2008
402	71	Jon Paskowitz			June 2, 2008
403	72	George Will			June 3, 2008
404	73	Salman Rushdie			June 4, 2008
405	74	Pat Buchanan			June 5, 2008
406	75	Philip Weiss			June 9, 2008
407	76	Alan Rabinowitz			June 10, 2008
408	77	David Hadju			June 11, 2008
409	78	Dixon Despommier			June 12, 2008
410	79	Kenneth R. Miller			June 16, 2008
411	80	Jonathan Zittrain			June 17, 2008
412	81	Junot Díaz			June 18, 2008
413	82	N. T. Wright			June 19, 2008
414	83	Barbara Ehrenreich			June 23, 2008
415	84	Will Smith			June 24, 2008
416	85	Neil DeGrasse Tyson			June 25, 2008
417	86	Robert Wexler			June 26, 2008
418	87	Dan Esty			July 14, 2008
419	88	Jason Riley			July 15, 2008
420	89	Rush			July 16, 2008
421	90	Elizabeth Edwards			July 17, 2008
422	91	Jim Webb			July 21, 2008
423	92	Lucas Conley			July 22, 2008
424	93	Nas			July 23, 2008
425	94	Garrett Reisman			July 24, 2008
426	95	Toby Keith			July 28, 2008
427	96	Eric Roston			July 29, 2008
428	97	Crosby Stills & Nash			July 30, 2008
429	98	Buzz Aldrin			July 31, 2008
430	99	Lucas Conley			August 4, 2008
431	100	David Carr			August 5, 2008
432	101	Kevin Costner			August 6, 2008
433	102	Thomas Frank			August 7, 2008
434	103	Jorge Ramos			August 11, 2008
435	104	Jane Mayer			August 12, 2008
436	105	Dick Meyer			August 13, 2008
437	106	Bing West			August 14, 2008
438	107	Scott McClellan			August 26, 2008
439	108	Mike Huckabee			August 27, 2008
440	109	Richard Brookhiser			August 28, 2008
441	110	John McWhorter			August 29, 2008
442	111	Laura D'Andrea Tyson			September 2, 2008
443	112	Doris Kearns Goodwin			September 3, 2008
444	113	Ron Paul			September 4, 2008
445	114	David Paterson			September 5, 2008
446	115	Peter Gomes			September 15, 2008
447	116	Rick Reilly			September 16, 2008
448	117	Bob Lutz			September 17, 2008
449	118	Maria Bartiromo			September 18, 2008
450	119	Jackson Browne			September 23, 2008
451	120	Cornel West			September 24, 2008
452	121	Nick Carr			September 25, 2008
453	122	Paul Begala			September 29, 2008
454	123	James Taylor			September 30, 2008
455	124	Dave Levin			October 1, 2008
456	125	Naomi Klein			October 2, 2008
453	126	Jim Cramer			October 6, 2008
454	127	Nate Silver			October 7, 2008
455	128	Joe Scarborough			October 8, 2008
456	129	David Gergen			October 9, 2008
453	130	Kathleen Parker			October 13, 2008
454	131	Joseph Stiglitz			October 14, 2008
455	132	Shai Agassi			October 15, 2008
456	133	Robert Greenwald			October 16, 2008
453	134	Wynton Marsalis			October 20, 2008
454	135	Mike Farris			October 21, 2008
455	136	David Frum			October 22, 2008
456	137	Jonathan Alter			October 23, 2008
457	138	Yo-Yo Ma			October 27, 2008
458	139	Sherman Alexie			October 28, 2008
459	140	David Simon			October 29, 2008
460	141	Wilco			October 30, 2008
461	142	Andrew Sullivan			November 3, 2008
S1	SP	Indecision 2008: America's Choice			November 4, 2008
462	143	Andrew Young			November 5, 2008
463	144	Rachel Maddow			November 6, 2008
464	145	Kevin Johnson			November 11, 2008
465	146	Bob Woodward			November 12, 2008
466	147	Stephen Moore			November 13, 2008
467	148	Malcolm Gladwell			November 17, 2008
468	149	Paul Simon			November 18, 2008
469	150	Michael Lewis			November 19, 2008
470	151	Thomas Friedman			November 20, 2008
S2	SP	A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All			November 23, 2008
471	152	Khaled Hosseini & Roland Fryer			December 1, 2008
472	153	Jeffrey Goldberg			December 2, 2008
473	154	Barbara Walters			December 3, 2008
474	155	Niall Ferguson			December 4, 2008
475	156	Geoffrey Canada			December 8, 2008
476	157	Kevin Bacon & Charlie Kaufman			December 9, 2008
477	158	Richard Haass			December 10, 2008
478	159	Michael Phelps			December 11, 2008