The story of how Stephen Colbert knew his wife was 'the one' is downright magical

Looking for a way to turn late night television host Stephen Colbert into a giddy schoolboy? Why don't you ask him how he knew his wife, Evelyn, was "the one."

One audience member attending a taping of "The Late Show" happened to do just that during a Q&A session, and we're SO lucky that he did.

Rather than shirk off the question, or provide a witty one-line answer, Colbert's eyes lit up as he replied, "Oh man, I will ... how long do we have?"

After jokingly checking his watch, he says, "I will make this quick, 'cause I like this story."

What followed was a six-minute saga detailing Colbert's epic love story, including the moment he spotted a woman in a black linen dress across the lobby of a Charleston, South Carolina, music festival -- while he was still dating another lady, nonetheless -- and thought to himself, "Her. There's your wife, you're gonna marry her."

We could continue on, but we'd rather let an adorably starry-eyed Colbert tell the rest of the saga in his own words.

A brief moment of suspense arose when Colbert turned his back to give the almost-too-polite Evelyn an opportunity to slip away, if she really wanted to.

"I turned my back for what is now clearly to me the most harrowing minute of my life," he said. "What if she'd gone away? But she didn't! She was still there when I turned around, smiling at me. And now we're married."

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"Believe it or not," he added, "that's the short version of that story."

Photos of Colbert and Evelyn: