The Daily Show and Colbert Report return, funny because of the Wrtiters Strike

So the Daily Show and Colbert Report return to answer the big question:

Can you be funny without writers?

The answer (if you don't count the WGA member hosts as writers) is a resounding yes. But, of course, most of the jokes (and all of the best) were about the strike:



Steven Colbert has an even harder job. While Jon Steward essentially acts as himself on the Daily Show, Colbert portrays a fictional (and largely written character) on his show.

On the first night, Colbert was even funnier, using a 5-minute long laugh track to fill a good portion of his show.

I'd post the Colbert video, but it's non-embeddable (WTF?).

Two big questions left on the table:

How sustainable are jokes along those lines?

While Stewart/Colbert were ripping on the studios for not paying writers for iTunes downloads, Comedy Central/Viacom were pimping iTunes downloads at every commercial break and in all the credits. Was this done for irony or out of cluelessness?