WATCH: The Colbert Report Premiered 20 Years Ago Tonight

Twenty years ago today, the man who would teach America about “truthiness” made his TV debut.

Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report premiered on October 17, 2005, giving one of The Daily Show’s most popular correspondents his own series. Here, Stephen Colbert would formally slip into a right-wing pundit character of the same name—one that would come to define the real Stephen Colbert for years to come. 

The inaugural episode saw Colbert welcome TV news reporter Stone Phillips, with whom he would engage in a “Gravitas-Off.” Taking inspiration from the proliferation of right-wing shows like The O’Reilly Factor, The Colbert Report would ape Republican personalities and talking points on a nightly basis, serving as a contrasting companion piece to The Daily Show and becoming a gem in its own right within Comedy Central’s lineup.

Prior to landing The Colbert Report, the real Stephen Colbert had spent eight years as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. From 1997-2005, the comedian led memorable field pieces and recurring in-studio segments like “Even Stevphen” (alongside then-correspondent Steve Carell.)

In May of 2005, Comedy Central announced that Colbert had landed a show of his own to immediately follow Stewart’s Daily Show.

The fictional Colbert made himself known to viewers from the very first moments of the show, delivering a comedically stern and logically questionable mission statement. In the first of what would become one of the show’s signature segments, “The Word,” Colbert explained that truth comes not from the facts in one’s brain, but from their gut.

“Do you know you have more nerve endings in your stomach than in your head? Look it up,” he says. “Now, somebody’s gonna say, ‘I did look that up and it’s wrong.’ Well, mister, that’s because you looked it up in a book. Next time, try looking it up in your gut.”

Before long, The Colbert Report was off and running. Even as ratings stopped growing in its later years, the program often outranked The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demo.

Colbert’s splash extended from the ratings to popular culture and politics, thanks to real-world occurrences like the launch of a tongue-in-cheek Colbert Super PAC and Colbert’s participation as an expert witness on immigration before a Congressional subcommittee. The word Colbert created for that first “The Word” segment, “truthiness,” would eventually be added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

All told, The Colbert Report ran for over than nine years, churning out nearly 1,500 episodes led by Colbert’s eponymous character. It would secure Emmy nominations each year, twice usurping the category’s consistently reigning champ, The Daily Show. Beyond the Emmys, the show garnered even more prestigious recognition with two Peabody Awards.

Almost never breaking kayfabe, Colbert’s performance would redefine what a nightly late-night comedy show is capable of. (Comedy Central would attempt to recapture the in-character magic three years later with Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper’s 11:30 entry The Opposition, which swapped out an O’Reilly-type for an Alex Jones-type.)

Of course, The Colbert Report also launched the real Stephen Colbert into the running for David Letterman’s replacement. Colbert took over The Late Show in September 2015.

After a decade on the air, he’ll end the show next May, but perhaps not before resurrecting the character that rocketed him into the stratosphere of late-night success. The fictional Colbert—whom the real host explains is his “Conservative cousin”—has appeared several times on The Late Show, as recently as last month.

Colbert’s first moments behind the desk at The Colbert Report can be viewed below: (Note: Adblockers may prevent video from displaying.)