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Is the campaign trail getting a tad easier with the absence of the “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report?”

In my listening to the “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” replay on XM radio yesterday, I heard one of his panelists making that observation. Her argument being basically that ‘if Jon Stewart had been around, the Clinton campaign wouldn’t have gotten away with the Barack/kindergarten letter story.’

For a moment it sounded silly, like a child saying ‘Ooooh, it’s a good thing mom didn’t see you,’ but then I realized that the panelist’s observation had the added quality of being … true.

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When life gives you lemon, you make lemonade.

And when a writer’s strike shuts down TV, media types try to douse reality with sugar water and look at the bright side, too.

How else to explain two recent pieces about hoiw MediaLand residents are making do without current episodes of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report?”

According to Slate:

A Grey's Anatomy rerun is a bummer only if you've already seen that episode, a Daily Show rerun is the television equivalent of a day-old newspaper. It's birdcage liner.

A five-year-old episode of The Daily Show, on the other hand, is pure gold.

And a piece in this week’s Boston Phoenix tries to suggest that not even the writer’s strike can stop the force of nature named Stephen Colbert:

In fact, Colbert has reached such revered status at this juncture that even in a period of relative inactivity — not doing a show, not running for president — people are talking about him, wondering about him, and waiting for his next move.

Really? Are you spending time pondering Colbert, talking about him and wondering about him?
Yeah. Me neither.

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Okay, first things first: This space is going to be a ‘cackle’-free zone. No poking fun at irrelevant personal characteristics or foibles. At least not this week. That's why this writer didn't pick up on the “Chucklegate” story yesterday, which referenced “The Daily Show” and Jon Stewart. I’m just not going there.

But that doesn’t mean Stewart’s off-limits altogether, right? Last night, Jon Stewart had one of his best jousts with a TV talking head since the immortal “Crossfire” “I’m not going to be your monkey” segment where he slashed and burned the cable news argumentation format.

His guest was MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews, who was on to plug his new book “Life is a Campaign.”

It was a gleeful wincefest, with Stewart himself lapsing on a few occasions into some weird cringe posture at his interview desk. The segment even began awkwardly, as Matthews walked on-set with his arms crossed, and some godawful synthesizer music played that made me think I was watching an ‘80s game show like “Card Sharks.” (Pat Gavin slapped the video of the segment up on DCFishbowl, if you’re not in a reading mood.)

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In its neverending quest to confound those who deem it the news equivalent of “dessert,” “The Daily Show” has done it again – they’ve sent a correspondent to Baghdad. According to today’s Hollywood Reporter:

Correspondent Rob Riggle, who has combat experience as a major in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, spent five days in Iraq last week with "Daily Show" writer Kevin Bleyer and field producer Glenn Clements. They went with a USO sketch comedy tour known as "Operation Feel the Heat" -- armed with small, handheld cameras -- and also brought back video that will be used for "Daily Show" about the troops and their lives in Iraq.

Although "Daily Show" spends time on topics related to Iraq and often has one of its correspondents appear against a greenscreen that simulates the Middle Eastern country, it's the first time the show has gone the extra step and visited Iraq.

It’s a credit to Riggle and Jon Stewart that they would come in to entertain the troops at the same time the Iraqi parliament has broken out of town to avoid the August heat.

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So, “The Daily Show” basically has as much substance about politics as the network newscasts, a good portion of the kiddos are getting their political news from Jon Stewart and “Saturday Night Live” cast members and, apparently, the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” is considered a news program. No, really.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on “The Tonight Show” last night and his opponent in the gubernatorial election, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides -- who wasn't invited to appear on the program --argues that’s a violation of the Communications Act of 1959, a provision of which includes the “equal-time rule.” The Angelides campaign fired off letters to NBC affiliates, urging them not to air the program or to provide Angelides with equal time. Under the rule, the FCC requires that broadcasters give an equal amount of air time to political candidates running for office. There are exemptions, however, for news programs, interviews or documentaries. And that’s why NBC says the network is not required to provide equal time to Angelides. The Washington Post notes NBC’s statement:

"Consistent with 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno's' previous practice, NBC is following the news guidelines for interviewing a political candidate," the network said yesterday in a statement. "Under the news guidelines, the scheduled appearance of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Oct. 11 broadcast is not subject to the FCC's equal-time provisions."

On behalf of Angelides, Rep. Xavier Becerra, (D-Los Angeles) wrote a letter of complaint to the president of the FCC. It appears, however, that NBC’s position is not necessarily without precedent. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications Web site, “The FCC has also labeled shows such as “The Phil Donahue Show” and “Good Morning America” news interview programs,” and therefore exempt from the equal time rule.

In other news, the count of film and television stars not running for president has reached three.

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Jon Stewart, and most things “Daily Show”-related, are catnip for the media. Stewart’s 2004 assault on CNN’s “Crossfire” was big news. And the apparently substantial influence that “The Daily Show” has over the news consuming habits of our nation’s youth (the kids, the young people) is always a notable topic. A study this summer on “The Daily Show Effect,” which suggested that the program contributes to college students’ cynicism about politics, generated fair amount of buzz. A study two years earlier, which revealed that almost a quarter of people 18-29 got the bulk of their political campaign news from "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live," also had everyone in a tizzy.

The latest Stewart study to gain headlines hasn’t even been published yet, but a press release is out for an Indiana University study (to be published next summer by the Journal of Broadcast and Electronic Media) that says news coverage on “The Daily Show” is as substantive as that of the network news broadcasts. Naturally, it’s getting some attention already. “While much has been written in the media about The Daily Show's impact,” says the release, “[Assistant Professor of Telecommunications Julia R.] Fox's study is the first scholarly effort to systematically examine how the comedy program compares to traditional television news as sources of political information.”

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Comedy Central’s effort to satiate the public’s limitless thirst for fake news entered a new chapter with last night’s premiere of “Daily Show” alum Stephen Colbert’s own experiment in satirical news broadcasting, “The Colbert Report.”



Colbert opened the show with a Bill O’Reilly-like commentary called, “The Word.” Last night’s word: “Truthiness.” Here’s some of Colbert’s monologue:

“I don’t trust books. They’re all fact and no heart. And that’s exactly what’s pulling our country apart today. ‘Cause, face it, we’re a divided nation. Not between Democrats and Republicans or conservatives and liberals or tops and bottoms. No, we are divided between those who think with their heads and those who know with their hearts.”

In case anyone missed the less-than-subtle message in that statement, Colbert went on to discuss Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers and the war in Iraq. But the administration wasn’t the only target on the show, the media was on the receiving end of a good chunk of the barbs. Coming into a segment detailing the top five stories that should induce fear, Colbert said: “Like any good newsman, I believe if you’re not scared, then I’m not doing my job.”



And the first guest, NBC’s Stone Phillips, sat through an interview with Colbert that appeared awkward at times and concluded with the newsman unable to answer this question about his network: Name three nights on NBC where there’s neither a “Dateline” or a “Law and Order.” But Phillips and Colbert got it together with an anchor face-off to prove almost anything can sound important if it’s said right.



Said TV Newser: “If ‘The Daily Show’ is a satire of the news, ‘The Colbert Report’ is a satire of the news-about-the-news.” If the early returns from blogs are any indication, Jon Stewart may soon have some competition for all those magazine covers he graces.

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