NEW YORK (AP) - Stephen Colbert was raised in South Carolina to be a Southern gentleman. But he spends his days being a jerk. It must be tough.

Not really, says the Comedy Central star. Colbert figures that's because he's embarrassment-proof.

Over the weekend at the New Yorker Festival, the host of "The Colbert Report" spent 90 minutes out of character, regaling interviewer Ariel Levy about how his career was launched and deconstructing the process of playing the right-wing blowhard pundit named Stephen Colbert.

By JOCELYN NOVECK
Associated Press Writer

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