The Internet is In Love With This Photo of a Young Stephen Colbert

A photo of what looks to be a youthful Stephen Colbert has captured the attention of the internet (for now). A Redditor claims the photo shows Colbert back in 1984, when he was 20 years old, with a big smile and an equally big head of hair. The photo popped up on Reddit under the Old School Cool tag recently and has been earning swoons and smiles ever since with commenters noting his “let-me-run-my-fingers-through-it hair” and dubbing it a “perfect” shot of The Late Show host

While according to Wikipedia, Colbert once told his audience on The Colbert Report that he was serving as the “totalitarian ruler of Malawi from 1982 to 1984”, when this photo was snapped, it is more likely that he was studying acting at Northwestern University, where he learned the ropes of comedy by joining a few improv groups. It was only after he graduated from college and looking for work, that he ended up answering phones at the infamous Second City troupe, before enrolling in classes in 1987 and studying alongside Steve Carell, Amy Sedaris, and Chris Farley.