If viewers of Global‘s “The Late Show” have noticed something a bit off-kilter about host Stephen Colbert, he offered an explanation in a new cover story for Vanity Fair.
According to Colbert, during the weekend before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 2, he developed a medical condition known as “benign positional vertigo.”
This, notes Healthline, creates the “sensation of spinning or swaying” and can trigger “brief periods of mild or intense dizziness” and can be caused by something as simple as moving one’s head.
“It’s almost entertaining, until I forget,” Colbert joked to VF.
“And then I go to stand up, and then I just fall down. So, I’m coming to you right now from a very weird angle, slightly listing to port.”
During the interview, Colbert’s wife Evie McGee entered to remind him to do the vertigo exercise his doctor prescribed.
Viewers of “The Late Show” have come to know McGee from her off-camera appearances — even if they have yet to see her onscreen, thanks to when she can be heard laughing at his jokes or the pained expression that overcomes Colbert’s face when she doesn’t.
“None of that s**t’s made up,” Colbert says.
The entire interview can be found in the latest issue of Vanity Fair. “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
