You sound a lot more regretful about the whole Crossfire incident than a lot of people who saw it.
I was regretful about my conduct, not about what I was saying. I hold firm to that. But here's the thing: Our show is a sort of frustrated criticism of a system we would love to see do better, but the only thing we really do well is make jokes, and I think I learned that lesson. That doesn't mean I won't pick my spots, because I will. What's the point of earning capital if you can't spend it, as the president would say? I spent some capital, but in the right cause, and I've gotta tell you, in the moment, it was a great f---in' relief! Imagine that you're sitting at home in your boxers with a beer, yelling at your set, and suddenly, you're in front of them, going ''You f---ers.'' It was the triumph of the armchair quarterback.

And what you said to Carlson was in the tradition of your show, which goes after not only politicians but the media.
In some respects our disappointment with the media is greater than with politicians. My point on Crossfire was: News can be one of two things — noise or clarity. They're noise. Why not try clarity? It's interesting that this turned into a discussion in the media of whether I was too big for my britches.

Probably the most quoted line about The Daily Show this year was the statistic showing that young people get their news from you more often than from news broadcasts or newspapers. But since a lot of your comedy depends on your viewers already understanding what you're talking about, do you think they're maybe lying — or winking at you — with that answer?
I think a lot of the response to our show is people sending messages. You know, we won the TV Critics' Association award for Outstanding Achievement in News and Information. That was far more about saying ''f--- you'' to them than about praising us.

You've been rough on your own interviewing skills. Is it easier for you when George Clooney walks out on stage as opposed to, say, Richard Clarke?
No. Nothing against him, but it's a lot less interesting to talk to the guy in Ocean's Twelve than the guy at the helm of the war room on 9/11. But I understand that people have just sat through 15 minutes of world events, so how about letting them see a handsome and rakish man from ER?

Last question: What's going to upset you the most — if your kid comes to you and says ''I want to be a politician,'' ''I want to be a journalist,'' or ''I want to go into showbiz''?
[Laughs] They can all be done well, or they can all be done poorly. You can be Ted Koppel or you can be Jayson Blair. You can bring noise or you can bring clarity. All I would say to him is ''Try to bring clarity if you can. And if you can't, chances are you're gonna have a trust fund, so you might as well just f--- off and bartend.''

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