What a night of television. Right now, Conan O’Brien is on “A Daily Show,” and earlier (but actually later everywhere else in the country), Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were both on “Late Night.” This “feud” - over who “made” Mike Huckabee - has been great stuff, and the pre-tape with Huckabee himself was a solid conclusion (though it could have been funnier. Weird to see him still shilling for his campaign at this state). As good as the fight on “Late Night” was (everyone getting thrown down the stairs, and the fake-out with the Conan double), the Conan/Colbert duet in the hallway might have been the best part thus far. I guess Conan and Stewart will be on “The Colbert Report” in a half hour or so. Truly the most fun you can have without writers!

And the footage of Conan on MTV’s Jon Stewart Show might never get old. They looked so young! Jon especially. Poor guy. Conan is literally a foot (or more) taller than him.

Here’s last night’s epic battle, in case you missed it (and until NBC has it yanked off YouTube):

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“The Daily Show” might not have writers - or correspondents - right now, but if you want to see one, you can. And in person!

Rob Riggle, current correspondent and former “Saturday Night Live” featured player (as well as  the “Booze Cruise” captain on that awesome season 2 episode of “The Office”) will be at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26. Tickets are $44.

Riggle is actually just the first “Daily Show” correspondent to be performing at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts this season - Dan Bakkedahl is coming March 22, and John Oliver on April 26. Riggle seems like a pretty interesting guy (if you know anything about him, you’ve probably heard that he used to be a marine), and he’s also nearly omnipresent during football season in those Budweiser commercials.

The New York Post, that venerable bastion of journalism that less than a year ago “mistakenly” referred to Barack Obama as “Osama,” has come out strongly negative against last night’s episodes of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” Normally, I wouldn’t even have much of an idea, but Artie Lange was talking about it this morning on Stern and I thought it might be worth checking out.

Adam Buckman’s bizarre polemic against the Comedy Central shows included calling them “stooges” and sarcastically remarking “Awww, poor babies” in regards to Stewart and Colbert commenting on the difficulty of doing the show without writers. He also really didn’t like the “nine times worse than September 11th” joke that I thought was rather clever .

Did Buckman miss the point? Stewart and Colbert were in a tough position, and did the best they could in their situation. The show wasn’t as good as it would be without writers - obviously, and that was acknowledged (either overtly in the case of Stewart, or subtly in Colbert’s case). That said, they’re both entertaining guys, and even at a handicap, are more entertaining to watch than most of the “serious” cable TV pundits. To go after them to this extent seems rather mean-spirited and the TV columnist equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. It’s like if a Chicago sports writer wrote a lengthy, vitriol-filled column in 1993 (or 1998) about how the Bulls were shockingly not as good after Michael Jordan retired.

Also today, though, another Post columnist wrote a column bashing “Gossip Girl,” officially losing any credibility that publication might have had with me. Again, the Post seems blissfully out-of-touch, calling “GG” “consistently demeaning to girls,” which is surely taking things entirely too seriously.

The big five late night talk shows - Letterman, Leno, Conan, Ferguson and Jimmy - all returned last week , but tonight’s return of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” both heavily scripted instead of mostly interviews, should mos def be interesting to check out. And check it out we shall!

12:00 - Stewart has a unibrow, playing on Letterman and Conan’s strike beards. No writers needed for prop facial hair, I guess. The post-strike world means much more physical comedy!
12:01 - Stewart explains that this is no longer “The Daily Show” without writers, simply “A Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

12:03 - “Iowa has spoken. Cold white people have had their say.”

12:04 - “American Gladiators” gag. Lowblow, Stewpot! “They just unfroze the old ones.” Ooh, a “grandfathered in” “or NAMBLA” joke. Awesome.

12:07 - Series of tubes! Hasn’t gotten old yet (really). This Internet thing has to be scripted, right? With the graphics and all that. I don’t know how this all works. It’s good, though. The “Space reserved for clever pun” is a nice touch.

12:10 - “You got Sean Penn to advocate your cause! You must have…a cause!” Whoa, Stewart has balls for actually daring to poking a little bit of fun at the strike’s expense. Asking for a little perspective, pointing out that the last time talk shows were out for any length of time was 9/11 and joke about the somber tone of the “Speechless” videos. “The writer’s strike is now nine times worse than September 11th.” I’m sure that Stewart agrees with the WGA, but he wouldn’t be the sharp cultural critic that he is if he didn’t have a little more complex take than most. (more…)