Good appreciation of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show on Salon, contrasting it to the lameness of Politically Incorrect.
It helps (comedy, at least) to have plutocratic religious fanatics with imperialist ambitions occupying the White House, and “The Daily Show” has been at the forefront in finding a new way to make political humor in the age of Dubya. Some of that feels tentative: Stewart is still honing his persona. He’s an everyman with the intelligence to spot a crock, the humility to ask questions and a nifty way of keeping his mouth shut to let the absurdity of the naked facts sink in. He does, however, occasionally smirk, though he seems to be morphing that mannerism into a daffy eye-rolling gesture reminiscent of Jack Benny.
(Thanks, Chas!)