I was a big fan of The Daily Show for a while, through the 2004 elections and into the beginning of this year. The problem with any good comedian is that after you get see the routine for a while, you don't need the actual comic so much-- just flip on CNN and listen, and do your own version of MST3K. On a guess, Stewart is even getting a bit tired of it, or at least of doing his Bush imitation and getting cheap laughs. Given the sketchiness of his earlier career, though, I can't blame the guy for hanging on to a meal ticket even when it's no longer exciting.
   The Colbert Report . .  have you ever had an idea that was really funny in theory but not so much in execution? On a tangent, one example I can offer is Dread Zeppelin-- sometimes they're a lot of fun, but often they're so close to the original that you want to throw on Led Zep. That's how I feel about this show. Sure, a tone parody of Fox News sounds like a good idea, but when I really want to laugh at Bill O'Reilly, I just flip on Fox. (For one thing, Bill has fewer constraints, as he doesn't have to turn everything into a punchline-- it just turns out that way.) Maybe I'll give Colbert another shot, but really, can he hold a candle to Hugh Hewitt?
    As for Colbert's speech; I love C-SPAN, but have serious doubts whether anything broadcast on it can be said to have changed an election. Sure, it was great fun if you hated W, but did it really change any minds? I have my doubts*. If nothing else, it was depressing to think that there had been nothing like it before the 2004 elections, when Bush's name was actually on the ballot, instead of only there by proxy.

   *Tom Lehrer, asked about the influence of his political tunes, said, "It's not even preaching to the converted . . it's titillating the converted", and noted that the satirical Berlin cabarets of the 30s did so much to stop the rise of Hitler. All those reporters and insiders who were discomfited for one night by Colbert woke up the next day and continued on as before, from what I could tell.

Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; e luce ad tenebras

...that must be some award if it previously was given to intellectual heavyweight Anderson Cooper.

How come Rachel Ray gets to have 10 shows? How many shows does this woman need? Let some other people have a show you big greedy.

"former LA Times editor Dean Baquet."

That's funny on so many levels. Rachel Ray has 15 shows and this guy can't even hold a job at a newspaper no one reads anymore.

"Katie Couric"

Is no Rachel Ray. Katie does what - half an hour a night, while RR has 19 seperate shows? What a loser. Also Rachel Ray has nicer tits than Couric.

"megablogger Arianna Huffington"

Mega? Note to awarders: an agglomeration of poop is not better than a lone pile of poop, it's worse. Also Huffington has exactly Zilcho shows of her own, while Rachel Ray has increased her show total to 26 in the time it took me to write this.

Arianna Huffington is hotter than Stephen Colbert.

are making me hungry!

----- The earth may fail, but we will quiver