Photos: Stephen Colbert: His journey to ‘The Late Show’

Stephen Colbert went to Lake Pacid, N.Y., in 2009 to test out the combined bobsled/skeleton/luge run with U.S. skeleton team member Zach Lund.  (Lou Reuter / Associated Press)

In 2009, Stephen Colbert urged his viewers to write in his name for an online contest held by NASA to name the Node 3 module of the International Space Station. Although “Colbert” was the name that won online, NASA was not bound to the results and named the node Tranquility. NASA, however, did pay him a nod. He is pictured on the side of the treadmill that the astronauts use on the space station, named so that its acronym spells out his last name: the “Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill.”  (NASA / Associated Press)

Stephen Colbert created his own “super PAC” during the run-up to the 2012 presidential campaign. Above, Colbert legally transfers control of the PAC to Jon Stewart as Trevor Potter, a campaign finance expert and Colbert’s lawyer, looks on.   (Kristopher Long / Associated Press)

Stephen Colbert at the “Rock Me Like a Herman Cain South Cain-olina Primary Rally,” in Charleston, S.C. Colbert encouraged voters to vote for Cain after Colbert decided to run for president himself, then found out it was too late to get on the South Carolina ballot.   (Grace Beahm / Associated Press)

In 2011 Stephen Colbert kicked off a special music-centric week of “The Colbert Report” during the summer called “Dr. Pepper Presents StePhest Colbchella ‘011: Rock You Like a Thirst-icane.” He followed it up in 2012 with “StePhest Colbchella ‘012: RocktAugustFest” and “Stephest Colbchella ‘013: The Song of the Summer of the Century” in 2013. Pictured is Colbert during “StePhest Colbchella ‘012” held at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.  (Jason DeCrow / Invision/AP)

Stephen Colbert won two Emmy Awards in 2013, besting “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” in the variety series category for the first time. The other Emmy was for writing for a variety series.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Stephen Colbert is not a stranger to controversy. Most recently, remarks from “The Colbert Report” Twitter account spurred a #CancelColbert movement, and Bill O’Reilly -- whose on-air persona is emulated by Colbert -- has called out Colbert as a “deceiver” who is damaging America. Above, Colbert on O’Reilly’s Fox News show in 2007.  (Jeff Christensen / Associated Press)