BILL MARKO

With over 25 years of experience in television broadcasting, I am proud to offer a comprehensive skill set focused on graphic design. After graduating from Marist University’s School of Communication and the Arts in 2000 I began my career as a video editor and sound mixer for WRNN Television in Kingston, NY. During my seven year tenure at this small Upstate NY news station I helped to usher the editing process into the digital age. Put in charge of transitioning from Beta tape based analog editing to non-linear digital editing I was tasked with familiarizing myself and all incoming ENGs and MMJs with non-linear editing software of the time (Media 100, Final Cut Pro). Editing digitally led to my interest in graphic design and with the gracious guidance of the WRNN graphics department I was soon incorporating my own graphic design work into my editing output. Eventually I would join the graphics department full-time.

In 2007 I joined the graphics department for The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. I would remain a graphic designer for The Colbert Report until its final episode. After a brief hiatus in which I designed for The Colbert Report successor, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and a month-long project with The Game Show Network, I, along with most of my The Colbert Report family, began work on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I remained with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert until its final episode in 2026. 

Over the course of my 18 year career with The Colbert Report and The Late Show I and the rest of the graphics department prided ourselves on taking on an ever increasing workload and always tightening deadlines. In addition to the challenge of producing graphics and visual effects for the show, we also worked on extra-curricular media projects associated with Stephen Colbert including books published by Simon and Schuster and Grand Central Publishing, extended specials for Comedy Central and Showtime as well as the undefinable “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” hosted by Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart on October 30, 2010 at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

We faced the challenges of doing live shows after important political events including election nights and the Presidential State of the Union Address as well as shows recorded in remote locations including but not limited to The 2008 DNC in Philadelphia, PA, a week of shows from the U.S. military “Green Zone” in Baghdad, Iraq in 2009 and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

When the global COVID-19 pandemic shut down our show in a single afternoon we frantically started packing computers, equipment and cords into our bags and began the process of learning to work from home. Without missing a single broadcast (Stephen hosted the first "Quarantine Episode” from his bathroom) we quickly adapted to our new work-from-home process. During these episodes the show became particularly dependent on graphical elements to mask the show’s less spectacular settings and maintain a professional look. Once the pandemic had subsided and the return to work call went out our department remained largely remote. Our output efficiency actually improved with commute times eliminated and most show days only one member of the team would be required to be in the office.  

Over the course of The Colbert Report and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert I, along with my co-workers, received three Peabody Awards as well as commendations for working on four Emmy Award winning shows and specials.