As Stephen Colbert prepares to take over David Letterman’s host chair on CBS ’s “The Late Show” on Sept. 8, fans wonder what kind of talk show it will be.

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For 10 seasons of his Comedy Central program, “The Colbert Report,” Mr. Colbert adopted the persona of a vain, flag-waving blowhard as a stealth device for delivering loaded commentary about politics and consumer culture. He kept it topical, funny, and bombastic, always with a stunt in the works. He coined the word “truthiness,” interviewed scientists and stars, sang duets with serious musicians.

He launched a bogus presidential campaign in 2007 and labeled his show’s coverage of it “The Hail to the Cheese Stephen Colbert Nacho Cheese Doritos 2008 Presidential Campaign Coverage.” In 2011 he formed a political action committee, “Americans For a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow,” to expose truths about political fundraising.

For “The Late Show,” he’s dropping the buffoon character to just be himself and is bringing along staffers from “The Report.” He has indicated that he won’t lose the substance nor the style he delivered on his cable show.