MANHATTAN — Stephen Colbert abruptly cancelled Hell's Kitchen tapings of "The Colbert Report" so he could spend time with his ailing 91-year-old mother, according to published reports.
"[The Colberts] are a very private family," a source told the New York Post. "It's not surprising that [Colbert] did not want anyone to know what was going on."
Comedy Central spokesman Steve Albani declined to comment on the report.
Taping of the show at 513 W. 54th St. was called off Wednesday and Thursday nights "due to unforeseen circumstances," the network said in a statement Thursday. It declined to provide additional information.
The source told the Post that Colbert, 47, and his mother are close and were drawn together by a family tragedy. The funnyman's father and two of his 10 siblings were killed in a plane crash in 1974, when Colbert was 10.
Original episodes of "The Colbert Report" are scheduled to air starting Monday, but that is subject to change, Albani said. The show does not tape on Fridays.
Colbert told a studio audience on Monday that he had just returned from a week in Charleston, S.C., his hometown, the Post reported.
