That’s it for the ‘Report,’ everybody. Good night.

The greatest talk show of my generation is ending this month. The Colbert Report, after nine years, is airing its final broadcast in a couple of days. I am not looking forward to seeing it end. I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye.

Why all this grief for a late-night program? There are more important things to worry about. So what if The Colbert Report is ending? He even has another show out in a couple of months. So why cry?

The Colbert Report has become more than just a variety program to me. It’s become my greatest champion against the idiocy of today’s broadcast media.

The Report and its host Stephen Colbert have been my source of information and inspiration for about six years now. I wasn’t there at the beginning but I stuck with it and supported it the moment I jumped on. It’s a work of art, this show. One look at the standard late-night show and you’ll notice it caters to quick jokes and one-liners — but that’s not what The Colbert Report has mastered.

In his current show, his jokes are five to 10 minutes long. It’s a layered performance and the writing and the jokes only become stronger as it progresses. It’s a thesis more than anything else that needs time for it to be processed and appreciated. That’s something completely special to The Colbert Report and it’s something most fear would be lost in Stephen Colbert’s upcoming show. Anyone can do late-night jokes. Social media is full of one-liners and quick jabs and that’s why I, like many of its fans, flock to The Colbert Report as our sanctuary. It saves us from lazy quips and false wit.

Like Jon Stewart and John Oliver but very much unlike Jimmy Fallon, what goes viral with Colbert is not celebrity stunts or five-minute games. It’s what he says on air. The Report has become education in the guise of entertainment. Colbert may deny it all he wants and say he’s just a comedian doing his best to make people laugh, but the audience, his fans, will prove otherwise.

The point of news is to take the facts and relate it to the human experience, to take what is happening in our world and report it in the context of society. That might not be what you see in local or cable news but you see it in Colbert. While other news outlets report with the language of personal bias and agendas, Colbert does it in the language of satire. And ironically or even intentionally, it is in his satire that the news is reported at its most honest and most human. You see the truth behind the jokes and the message beneath the punch lines.

This is all possible only because Colbert reveals himself to us. The audience knows that it’s satire and, once past that, the truth in the news becomes clear and evident. Most news shows today project that they are the real deal, that they are the only legitimate source. They’ll never reveal to their audience what they truly are and that’s why they fail.

The Colbert Report won’t work without the audience on its side. It requires the audience to know what is going on for the show to succeed. It’s a partnership performance, similar to improvisational comedy where Stephen Colbert built his career. The show has become a communal experience between Colbert and the audience. It’s transcended from being a normal talk show to something resembling a church. The Report has turned into an institution, a sanctuary you can go to. The show itself winks at this in a way, addressing us fans as “The Colbert Nation,” the congregation to its preacher, Colbert.

Colbert live

I was fortunate enough to see a taping of one of his episodes and from the moment you step inside the studio, the audience is encouraged to react and participate in the show. Again, to use the religious metaphor, it’s akin to how a church celebration would go. The Mass won’t be effective if the priest is speaking to a dead crowd. The audience needs to become active participants not for the benefit of the priest but in order for the Mass to work.

I still remember that October day in New York. Seeing the show live and waiting outside after, standing for two hours in the cold hoping to see him leave, hoping to personally thank him even just once. I didn’t care that Tom Hanks had just passed by me as I looked up at Stephen Colbert’s building, praying he would look outside and see me waiting. I eventually had to give up but the memory of that day and getting to watch him perform will hold as one of the greatest experiences of my life. When I heard the show would be wrapping up this year, I wanted so bad to watch the show live again, right before it ends, just one last time. One last chance to say “Thank you” in person.

I’ve been trying to write this article for months now. Late nights and early mornings have been spent trying to find the right words to bid farewell to the show I’ve loved just as much as love for my own flesh and blood. The show has practically become family. The Report’s been like a dad — the strong father figure teaching me what’s good and bad. It’s the caring mom telling me everything will be okay right before I go to bed. It’s the cool older brother I look up to and hope to be one day. It’s the baby sister I can’t help but love more and more each day. It’s the grandparent I never want to see go.

The Colbert Report is ending in a matter of days and I don’t know how to prepare for it. I don’t know how to say goodbye. It will probably destroy me more than any other show’s end. The world won’t be as funny or as brilliant and those who hate Colbert and his program will be the happiest of all. I will grieve and try my best to look forward to his new show and I’ll support Colbert in whatever else he does in the future. So instead of saying goodbye, I’ll just say thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to Stephen Colbert and his entire staff for giving us a show unlike any other. Thank you for inspiring us night in and night out and making this world a little funnier and a little wiser. And as the camera fades to black and the credits roll, I’ll be watching and chanting “Stephen, Stephen, Stephen…”