Jon Stewart

GO AHEAD, Mr. or Ms. America, scrape that bumper sticker off the car. Pull up those lawn signs and toss them in the garbage. Throw out your Bush-Cheney or Kerry-Edwards buttons and the silly boater you were wearing when you stayed up late on Election Night, swilling too much chablis and shrieking at Wolf Blitzer and pulling for the red or blue candidate of your choice. Yes, the long national nightmare is over. We officially have a president. But the truth is, for most voters, the whole loud, ugly, rancorous campaign didn't end a moment too soon.

Jon Stewart is trying to be as precise as he can. He wants to get the wording exactly right in explaining just how irrelevant his news satire The Daily Show actually is. He muses: "I remember there was talk among the Founding Fathers, originally, when they wanted to split from England - `Should we organize, and write a constitution, and form a militia, or should we just get a half-hour show and poke fun at the English?'" Four times a week on Comedy Central, Stewart and his faux news colleagues serve up their subversive concoction, mistaken by many as a political humor program.

LEWIS BLACK is the canary in comedy's mine shaft, sticking his head into the darkness to see if it's safe to breathe (and laugh) freely. When last seen around here, he stood on the little stage at The Improv comedy club downtown, and he called George W. Bush an idiot, and everybody in the place laughed out loud. This was not so good for the president, but fine for the country. It was a sign that we were returning to normal. In comedy terms, Black is the loyal opposition: whomever's. When Bill Clinton first left the statehouse for the White House, Black cracked what a great governor of Arkansas Clinton had been: The state was 50th in education when Clinton took over and, with his leadership and guidance, leaped all the way to 49th by the time he'd left.

For those who like to see television take anti-war figures seriously -- or at least somewhat seriously -- there's really been only one sure place to turn in recent weeks: Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Comedian Chris Rock said recently on the faux news program that reporters from genuine news outlets had been trying to trip him up on his political stance. "No, I'm not really for the war," Rock says he replies, and then gets told -- "So, you're against the troops." "I didn't say that," Rock explodes with a mischievous grin, then tells Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart, "There's this weird McCarthyism right now."

It was with nothing less than great irony that Madonna kicked off last night's Grammy Awards ceremony with a performance of her hit "Music," with its la-la-land, love-fest lyrics like "Music makes the people come together." The ultimate pop diva even emphasized the air of all cultures and people coming together by stepping out of a flashy, silver limo that could have fit into many a Jay-Z music video. And she even incorporated another genre in her act when she had the potty-mouthed, 13-year-old rapper Lil Bow Wow open the limo door for her. However, just moments before Madonna's let's-all-hold-hands act, hundreds had gathered outside Staples Center in Los Angeles to protest the four Grammy nominations of controversial rap star Eminem.

I have a new hero, and his name is Andy Kindler. Kindler is a commentator for Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," the half-hour mock newsmagazine on weeknights at 11 that provides the sharpest satire to be found on television. Imagine my delight last week when ostensible anchor Jon Stewart - a comic who won my affection when he singed the fawning coverage of Joe Lieberman with the words "Senator, you had me at `Shalom' " - provided the following lead-in: "Many people feel that the landscape of daytime talk shows is too highbrow, too inaccessible, for the mainstream audience."

With an impeached president and a scandal that has shone new light on such mundane items as cigars and stained dresses, has there ever been a better time to get into the business of satirizing the news?Probably not, and that's great news for Jon Stewart, who on Monday takes over the job of host on Comedy Central's "Daily Show," a nightly send-up of American news (and newscasters).Neielsen Co figures:Rating1. Touched by an Angel CBS 16.42. 60 Minutes CBS 14.33. Sunday Movie: Sabrina CBS 14.04.

Having a conversation with Jon Stewart is like watching his MTV talk show. He treats the interviewer like a one-man audience, using every question to test his wit.What if he were offered Conan O'Brien's "Late Night" spot on NBC? "If he got canceled and they came to me? I would tell them no. Who wants to make that kind of money and have that kind of show every night on national television? Why, I'd put my foot down."Mr. Stewart, called "The Man Who Should Be Conan" by New York magazine, has no illusions about entering the talk-show wars.

There's not a great quantity of watchable television on tap this evening, but what there is boasts a very high level of quality. Leading the list: a camp musical and a sober and sobering documentary.* "I'll Fly Away" (8-9 p.m., WETA-Channel 26) -- Something as simple as a little boy's lost hat leads to misunderstandings and prejudicial charges in this first one-hour episode of "I'll Fly Away." Sam Waterston, Regina Taylor star. PBS repeat.* "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (8-10 p.m., WBFF-Channel 45)