UPDATE: Family Illness Causes 'Colbert Report' Cancelations

A serious family emergency has put "The Colbert Report" temporarily on the shelf.

The Comedy Central faux-pundit's scheduled Wednesday taping was abruptly canceled with out explanation, and a rerun aired in the episode's place yesterday evening. A source with close business relationships to Colbert's program told The Huffington Post Thursday that the comic's mother is seriously ill, suspending the show until further notice. The Huffington Post did also clarify that production "should resume soon."

Stephen is the youngest of his 91-year-old mother Lorna's 11 children. His father James and two of Stephen's brothers died in a 1974 plane crash. Here she is speaking glowingly about her son during a 2008 local television interview in Stephen's native South Carolina.

Wednesday evening's new episode that had been to follow "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" was replaced with one featuring Colbert ripping on Republican Herman Cain's late-2011 presidential campaign. Ticket-holders for what would have been the Wednesday night episode's taping received notice apparently via email from Comedy Central that "Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have canceled our taping for the date of your ticket reservation, February 15, 2012." ColbertNation.com indicates that the network will also air a repeat Feb. 16.

Scheduled guests were to include Claire Danes and Susan Cain.

When various audience members began tweeting the email, the story broke to websites such as Mediaite and Third Beat. Comedy Central hasn't yet issued a statement explaining the sudden cancelation, but Third Beat notes that "The Daily Show" tapings have twice been canceled - once due to the birth of Stewart's second child, and once following a staff member's unexpected death. This is the first time a "Colbert Report" taping has been so quickly canceled.

Stewart and Colbert were together in the midst of an Indecision 2012 farce that lampshades the loopholes in the newly effective "super-PAC" campaign finance regulations allowing "independent expenditure-only" committees to raise unlimited funds from groups supporting a candidate's election - in this case, Colbert's farcical-but-officially-disclosed "Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" organization.

Colbert briefly handed his organization over to Stewart when he attempted getting onto the ballot for his home state of South Carolina's presidential primary, seeking election to the office of "President of the United States of South Carolina."