Formidable Opponent is a segment of The Colbert Report in which Stephen takes on the only person with balls big enough to debate a difficult issue: Stephen Colbert. The Stephens trade debate points and often nail each other with sparkling insights and brilliant incisive deductive reasoning. Each debate ends with the Stephens concluding that the other Stephen is a Formidable Opponent.

Formidable Opponent, or 'FO', first debuted on the November 1, 2005 edition of The Report with Stephen debating himself on the topic of charity.

On June 3, 2008, Colbert concluded an interview with guest George Will by declaring him a Formidable Opponent.^{Episode #403}

Topics DebatedEdit

• Charity
  • Winner: Stephen

• Banning Torture
  • Winner: Stephen

• Holding Prisoners at Gitmo Without Trial
  • Winner: Stephen

• Immigration
  • Winner: Stephen

• Stem Cells
  • Winner: Stephen

• Iraq War Timetable - (September 9, 2006)
  • Winner: Stephen

• The Greatest President Ever 's Iraq War Leadership Abilities (May 16, 2007)
  • Winner: Stephen

• Encouraging the public dissemination of possible terrorist attacks (August 21, 2007)
  • Winner: Stephen^{Episode #302}

• Choosing a Nominee Based On Electability (May 1, 2008)
  • Winner: Stephen^{Episode #390}

• To Drill or Not To Drill Off-shore (August 13, 2008)
  • Winner: Stephen^{Episode #436}

• To Bailout Or Not To Bailout Wall Street (October 2, 2008)
  • Winner: Stephen^{Episode #456}

Links about Stephen and StephenEdit

• Superman and Zod as a FO metaphor.
• Libural Colbert looses again