TVSquad

I bet you won't guess this.

In a year that saw news about everyone from Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan to Don Imus and Paris Hilton controlling the airwaves, newspaper editors and broadcast producers have chosen someone quite different for their annual "Celebrity of the Year" award (and it's a TV celebrity). The Pensacola News calls this person "a force of nature." This person beat out J.K. Rowling, Kanye West, and Kenny Chesney.

Read on for the answer...

It's Stephen Colbert!

Colbert not only beat out Rowling, Chesney and West, he also soared ahead of Miley Cyrus. That's Hannah Montana! Colbert said in an e-mail: "[I'm] pleased that I was chosen over two great spinners of fantasy - J.K. Rowling and Al Gore. It is truly an honor to be named the Associated Press' Celebrity of the Year. Best of all, this makes me the official front-runner for next year's Drug-Fueled Downward Spiral of the year. P.S. Look for my baby bump this spring!"

Funny how people are talking about Colbert now the way they used to talk about Jon Stewart just a year or two ago. I had thought that Colbert had reached his peak with his speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner last year, but 2007 saw him running for President, injuring his wrist on the show and incorporating that into his show's plot (with wristbands), appeared on Meet The Press, and even had an ice cream named after him.

Not bad.