Report: Colbert with his ailing mother

Stephen Colbert (photo) abruptly canceled last night's and tonight's editions of "The Colbert Report" - a big deal for a show that has  never pulled the plug before. Reports surfaced earlier that he had a "family emergency" - which are very loaded and fraught words in Colbert's context, insofar as his father and two brothers were killed in a commercial airlines crash in 1974.  He comes from a big and very loving family by all accounts, and has one of his own. 

 The New York Post is now reporting that Colbert left to be with his "ailing" mother, who is 91, according to the paper. Comedy Central is refusing any and all requests by reporters to confirm or deny those reports.