4. JON STEWART AND THE 'DAILY SHOW' TEAM
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is the most consistent laugh machine on TV — and the only news source for scores of cynics and slackers. It's not often that a comedy show can tackle politics, embrace a cogent point of view, and still maintain its anarchic spark. The scribes at The Daily Show pull it off four nights a week. As the heart and soul of the show, Stewart is evenhanded but never meek; as an interviewer, he can make his guests comfortable even as he's taking them apart. Then there's his gang of ''correspondents,'' who soldier straight-facedly into the great American absurd and take no prisoners. Empirically speaking, there's nothing funny about what's going on in the world right now. Yet here we are each week, chortling.
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