Three thousand fans packed a hockey arena in Oshawa, Ont., on Tuesday night to celebrate Stephen Colbert Day, an unusual new holiday that fetes the popular American comic.

The event came about when the city's mayor lost a hockey bet with Colbert, who stars as a buffoonish right-wing pundit on the popular late-night television show The Colbert Report.

Popular comedian Stephen Colbert, pictured this month in New York City, now has a holiday named after him in Oshawa, Ont.
(Jason DeCrow/Associated Press)

Colbert didn't attend the festivities, but videotaped a message that was played for the crowd at the General Motors Centre.

"This is a city I have admired ever since I learned of its existence recently," Colbert told the crowd.

He ordered the crowd to turn Stephen Colbert Day into a wild party, naming several local pubs where the celebrations could continue into the wee hours.

"I want this to be the biggest raver in Oshawa since last year's peony festival," he said before digging into a cake festooned with the words Happy Stephen Colbert Day.

Mayor John Gray was also forced to eat cake — his own birthday cake — decorated with a photo of Colbert giving his usual thumbs-up, arched-eyebrow glory.

"I feel very lucky to be born on Colbert Day," Gray told the crowd. "Mr. Colbert, this is the way to lose a bet."

The Eagle is born

The seed for Stephen Colbert Day was planted when about two million Colbert fans inundated an online contest a few months ago to name the mascot of the Saginaw Spirit, a Michigan-based Ontario Hockey League team.

Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle was born as a tribute to the comedian.

Colbert, who encouraged his fans to cast the ballots, threw his support behind the Saginaw squad, and began trash-talking its OHL rivals, especially the Generals, on his Comedy Central show.

On the eve of a January showdown between the two teams, Gray issued a public challenge to Colbert: If the Generals won the game, Colbert would have to wear a Generals jersey on his show, but if the Spirit won, Gray had to declare Colbert's birthday Stephen Colbert Day in Oshawa.

Colbert accepted the challenge, but had a more humiliating suggestion — he wanted Stephen Colbert Day to be declared not on his own birthday, but on Gray's.

The Generals lost the Jan. 26 game 5-4.

On Tuesday, famed hockey commentator Don Cherry turned out to the Stephen Colbert Day celebration and quickly poked fun of the comedian.

"He's the guy who started all this and then didn't even have the guts to show up," said Cherry, dressed in a red velvet jacket.  

He later referred to Colbert as a "leftie pinko," adding that if the comedian was a hockey player, he would wear a visor.

Shake off 'old, grey image'

It was an uncharacteristically silly event for the City of Oshawa, a Toronto-area community on Lake Ontario.

"Oshawa isn't exactly known for liveliness," said Gray. "We have that old, grey image, and we're trying to shake it off. We've been looking for a way to expose the world to all the great things about Oshawa, and Stephen Colbert comes along and helps us."

Until Tuesday's event, Oshawa was perhaps best known to the rest of Canada as the home of General Motors Canada and the home of the Generals.

The squad has a a potential NHL star in the making in John Tavares, who recently broke Wayne Gretzky's record for the most goals scored in the OHL by a 16-year-old player.

Tuesday's event also included:

• A Stephen Colbert look-a-like contest.
• A showdown between the Oshawa Generals and Saginaw Spirit mascots.
• Lots of free Dr. Pepper, Colbert's favourite soft drink.