NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert is dusting off his camouflage suit.

The comedian will broadcast two special episodes of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” to celebrate the end of combat operations in Iraq and to honor returning troops.

Additional Photos

Stephen Colbert of the Comedy Central television program “The Colbert Report” tapes the first of four shows in front of U.S. soldiers at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. 2009 Associated Press file

Conan O'Brien Evan Agostini

Charles Haddon

On Sept. 8 and 9, the show will fill its audience with Iraq war veterans and active-duty service men and women. Others will be beamed in via satellite from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The “Report,” which likes to parody over-the-top cable news graphics, is calling the episodes “Been There: Won That: The Returnification of the American-Do Troopscape.”

Guests will include Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and the U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno.

Odierno famously shaved Colbert’s head — on President Obama’s orders — when the comedian broadcast four episodes of “The Report” from Baghdad last year. On that visit, Colbert donned a camouflage suit and reported from a desk supported by sandbags.

One of those Iraq episodes earned “The Report” an Emmy nomination. The show has three nominations, heading into the Emmy Awards on Aug. 29.

The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which exited Iraq on Wednesday, officially was designated the last combat brigade to leave Iraq under Obama’s plan to end combat operations there by Aug. 31. Some 50,000 members will stay another year in what is designated as a noncombat role.

Though Colbert’s normal mode is satire, he’s a strong supporter of the troops.

O’Brien’s spoken-word recording will air

LOS ANGELES – Sirius XM satellite radio will debut a spoken-word recording by Conan O’Brien in which he riffs on the legend of Frankenstein.

“And They Call Me Mad?” will play at noon Monday, one day before its release, as part of Sirius XM’s Raw Dog Comedy channel.

The vinyl record’s flip side features an interview with O’Brien by Jack White, whose Third Man Records is releasing it. White’s label also is releasing “Conan O’Brien Live at Third Man,” recorded live in Nashville, Tenn., in June.

Pop singer leaps to his death

BRUSSELS – The lead singer of a British pop trio climbed a telecommunications mast behind the main stage at a Belgian rock festival and leaped to his death in the parking lot below, police said Saturday.

Charles Haddon, 22, of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool died late Friday during the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, a town in eastern Belgium. District attorney Marc Rubens said police were treating the death as a suicide.

Festival organizers said Haddon’s family has been notified.

On Thursday, Michael Been, frontman for the U.S. group The Call, died of an apparent heart attack at the same festival. Been, 60, was working as the soundman for his son’s band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Jolie eyes Bosnian education

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – A top official in Bosnia says Angelina Jolie is interested in supporting education and other projects to help young Bosnians and people who return to homes they left during the war.

Haris Silajdzic, chairman of Bosnia’s three-member presidency, said after meeting the actress Saturday that she asked about ideas for projects she could support and they both concluded that “the absolute priority is education.”

As UNHCR ambassador, Jolie visited Bosnia in April and drew attention to the plight of 117,000 people who haven’t able to return to their homes even though the Bosnia war ended in 1995. Jolie was also inspecting potential filming locations.

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