Fans of The Colbert Reportmay have noticed that Comedy Central aired a rerun of the show last night. While daily talk shows regularly go on hiatus, it looks like this one — which will continue tonight — was unplanned, and its cause remains mysterious. Comedy Central Senior VP for Communications Steve Albani told Politico, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the show will air repeat episodes on Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, February 16,” but wouldn’t go into the reasons for the break. Third Beat, which reported that audience members received an email yesterday notifying them that the taping was canceled, notes that this is the first unscheduled Colbert Report interruption and points out that Stephen Colbert has previously hosted amid illness and injury. The good news is that the show is expected to resume production soon. Meanwhile, we’re just hoping Colbert and his staff are all OK.
UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the break is due to “an emergency in Mr. Colbert’s family.” Once again, we’re crossing our fingers that it isn’t anything too serious.