'Does This Taste Funny?' is a family cookbook from Stephen and Evie Colbert

Stephen and Evie McGee Colbert have been married since 1993. Eric Wolfinger/Celadon Books hide caption

As the host of CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert takes the mantra "the show must go on" very seriously. Maybe that's why, in December 2023, he insisted on taping two back-to-back shows, even though he was in excruciating pain.

"Between acts of the show, I would burst into tears because I was in so much pain," he says. "It felt like somebody was leaning on a broomstick and jamming the end of the broomstick into my gut."

Stephen's wife, Evie McGee Colbert, who was at home in New Jersey, knew something was seriously wrong. Stephen wanted to come home after the taping and sleep it off, but Evie had a different plan.

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Television Stephen Colbert On Missing His Live Audience And Making Comedy A Family Business

"I bypassed Stephen completely and called [his driver] Pablo and said … 'Don't even tell him where you're going. Just go to the emergency room. I'll meet you there. He's out of the picture now. He has no voice,'" Evie says.

At the hospital, Stephen was diagnosed with appendicitis. Surgery the next morning revealed that his appendix had burst, leading to blood poisoning and sepsis.

Looking back now, Stephen concedes that Evie's insistence on going to the hospital "kind of" saved his life, while Evie has a different take: "Or Stephen was foolish enough to risk his life. We could look at it that way, too."

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Stephen and Evie, who married in 1993, share South Carolina roots. In addition to being partners in marriage, they work together on their production company, Spartina Productions,and Evie makes regular appearances on The Late Show. Now they've collaborated on a new cookbook, Does This Taste Funny? Recipes Our Family Loves. Each recipe in the book is preceded by the story behind it and memories associated with it.

On cooking

Stephen: It's relaxing for me. That's what I want to do on a Saturday afternoon if I've got a moment and I've got it to myself, especially if there's a farmer's market in town or something like that. ... What drives Evie crazy sometimes is that then I don't eat it.

Evie: You're not cooking to make food for yourself. You're just cooking to make a process.