Want to Know What's Really Going on? Ask a Comic

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Of course, satirists like Colbert, Dennis Miller, and Chris Rock have been plying their politically charged trade on cable networks like Comedy Central since the Clinton presidency, and the cynical irony for irony's sake that Letterman has trafficked in for decades has been on life support since George, Elaine, and Jerry Seinfeld waved farewell in 1998. Still, Letterman's clumsiness, not to mention Colbert's meteoric rise and accompanying self-assuredness, signals that political satire without a net is the new cool.

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Asked why tough, topical comedy is experiencing a resurgence among audiences, Paul Lewis, a professor of English at Boston College and author of Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict (University of Chicago, 2006), says the phenomenon 'is partly explained by an ever deepening ideological divide and a growing cynicism and discontent with politicians of all stripes.' As for the material: Today's almost surreal state of affairs, which conjures visions of the ennui and McCarthyism of the '50s, screams out for comic relief. As Lewis Black deadpans during The Carnegie Hall Performance (Comedy Central Records, 2006): 'Every headline over the past year seems to be a punch line.'

When Black and his contemporaries compose their work, it is often more profane than Bruce's and, in many cases, as politically incorrect. The audiences they're speaking to, however, have been weaned on comics from the late Sam Kinison to Sarah Silverman and are all but immune to being shocked, making it hard to imagine a scenario in which a performer would be muzzled for obscenity.

Of course, Bruce was gagged not because he used the Lord's name in vain, for example, but because of what he dared to say about organized religion. And today's censors and naysayers, including those who lambasted Colbert for being impolite, ultimately have similar agendas. The mass media have become so specialized, though, that it's easier to find small, loyal audiences and harder for critics to gin up enough outrage to have a commercial impact.

Consider Bill Maher, who was essentially blackballed at ABC for daring to question the Bush administration in the immediate wake of 9/11. Not long after, he found a time slot on HBO and is more outspoken and popular than ever. The same immunity is enjoyed by firebrands on the right, including Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, who have learned that the more outrageous they are, the larger their audience.

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