I haven't been watching The Colbert Report because I assumed that it was just The Daily Show 2.0.

I do like Stephen Colbert, though. I'm a huge fan of Strangers With Candy, and he was a writer and actor on that series. Oh, what a funny show it was. It's the only television program that I own every season of on DVD.

Jon Stewart, though. Eeeehhh. I'll put it this way: I'm a lapsed Jon Stewart fan. I used to think he was very funny and I was a huge fan of The Daily Show. I tried to catch it every day. Stewart is clearly liberal, but that never bothered me. I don't have to agree with someone in order to enjoy his or her comedy. For instance, Bill Hicks (left) was one of my favorite comedians ever. He was so funny that his comedy often reduced me to a snorting, quivering mess. Oh, how I loved his comedy… and, oh, how I mourned his death. Nonetheless, I disagreed with everything he ever said.

So I'm not a lapsed Jon Stewart fan because Stewart is so clearly liberal. I'm a lapsed Jon Stewart fan because, as of the last presidential election, Stewart has become so damned SHRILL. His comedy has totally changed. Nowadays, he's just another Al Frankin. He's bitter, he's more politician than comedian, and he's nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is.

So I presumed that Stephen Colbert's show was just another ultra-liberal pseudo-comedy that would annoy me.

I am beginning to think that I am dead-wrong about Colbert. Yes, he is a Democrat… but Colbert is also a Southern boy and a practicing Catholic. He's even a Sunday School teacher. Sounds like Colbert's program might be a great deal more complex and worthwhile than I'd have thought.

I found these two YouTube clips at the American Papist, and they left me slack-jawed in amazement. This is smart, funny, substantial stuff. And, not only that, but Colbert's positions on the matters discussed here are solidly Catholic.

This first clip features Colbert interviewing Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. Colbert's broad parody of media hubris is a little over-the-top… but his solid Catholicism comes through loud and clear once he and Donohue start discussing religious and political issues. Colbert even quotes scripture!

Here, Colbert debates himself about stem cell research and (gasp!) doesn't settle for the standard Hollywood liberal mantra about how stem cell research would cure all the world's ills if only the bad old Republicans would step out of the way of progress:

I get the idea that The Colbert Report might now be what the The Daily Show used to be. I don't imagine I'll agree with Colbert all the time, but I'm gonna start watching his show. I get the impression he'll make me think, make me laugh, and thoroughly entertain me. You know... all the things The Daily Show used to do.