The faux fireplace that scantily warms the set of Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report features a saying engraved in the wall above it: videri quam esse, Latin for “to seem, rather than to be.”

It’s a play off the Latin phrase esse quam videri (“to be, rather than to seem”). The engraving is said to be a tip of the hat, and a wag of the finger — to borrow a phrase — to the host’s hyper-conservative, Geraldo Rivera-cum-Bill O’Reilly, all-about-me mock personality.

It’s a personality Americans — at least the liberal, young and overwhelmingly male viewers that make up his audience — have grown accustomed to. And it’s a personality that will die at the end of this year when the Report ends its run and Colbert prepares to take over the Late Show.

“I won’t be doing the new show in character, so we’ll all get to find out how much of him was me,” Colbert said in a statement.

In case you’ve been left out of the joke all these years, let me say it: Stephen Colbert isn’t "Stephen Colbert." Stephen Colbert, the man, has been playing "Stephen Colbert," the character, ever since his meager beginnings on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, playing with his God Machine and arguing with Steve Carrell.

“I’m insincere on the show,” Colbert once told Tim Russert in an interview about the Report. “I just say things I don’t mean.” He spoke of dialing the character’s traits up and down on a “sliding scale.”

Watch the clip, and you’ll see it. He’s there, but it’s not him.

The real Colbert who's expected to grace the set of the Late Show may prove to be a major risk factor for CBS, which is hoping The Colbert Report’s younger, dedicated demographic will follow him when he leaves Comedy Central for the late-night slot on broadcast television.

Viewers may tune in expecting to see the greatest satirical comedian of the past 20 years, and instead find a sincere, nice, clever man — but not the Colbert they know and so dearly love.

If that’s how this thing will unfold, one of two things may happen.

One: Colbert moves on, and his audience does too. Those who propelled him to fame early on will stick with Comedy Central, or move on, and find a new comedian to welcome into their homes. His new fans on CBS will be older, more traditional, less ideological. They’ll find him funny, he’ll find himself comfortable, and like Jay Leno and even David Letterman himself, Colbert will slowly rot out in the stage light.

Two: Colbert thrives. He brings his sharp wit, his biting satire, and his stellar interview skills that have left politicians withering in the hot seat and his audience doubled-over in laughter. His audience will follow, they’ll grow, and CBS will win on both fronts. The show’s success will ring in a new age of late-night television, bridging the gap between Letterman's generation and Colbert's.

We’re pulling for that one. At least he'll keep the name.

Either way, it’s a sad day for late night television watchers to lose such a fantastic satirical character who pulls in millions of eyes week after week.

As we witness the death of Colbert, the character, here’s hoping CBS doesn’t strangle Colbert, the man. At least they should pony up for a dentist.

“I’m thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me,” Colbert told the world in a statement announcing Thursday’s big news. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth."

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