MUSICAL

3 Reasons I Love

1 Because what other newscast is so right for our times? Even beyond Arnold Schwarzenegger's made-for-Comedy-Central run for governor of California, Jon Stewart slices through spin with razor-sharp parody. (He summed up the war in Iraq with the graphic, "Mess O'Potamia"). His wry commentary makes even the presidential race entertaining. His take on a techno-soundtracked "youth" ad for Joseph Lieberman: "Yes, I'm voting for rave master Lieb!"

2 Because correspondents Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert are brilliantly silly—and fearless. Chatting with Rev. Al Sharpton, who went on a hunger strike over bomb testing in Vieques, P.R., Colbert told the rotund pot, "It looks like you could use to take another principled stance."

3 Because Stewart is a thinking woman's dream: handsome, smart, self-deprecating (his ad-libs after failed jokes make up for the clunkers) and sparkling in conversation with anyone from Jack Black to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Go to bed with Jay or Dave? I don't think so.
(COMEDY CENTRAL, MON.-THURS. 11 P.M. ET)