The Colbert Report

Awesome:

Comedy Central said yesterday that it was giving Mr. Colbert his own show: a half-hour that is expected to follow 'The Daily Show' on weeknights and will lampoon those cable-news shows that are dominated by the personality and sensibility of a single host. Think, he said, of Bill O'Reilly and Chris Matthews and Sean Hannity.

Where 'The Daily Show' and its host, Jon Stewart, generally spoof the headlines of the day (and the anchors and reporters who deliver them), Mr. Colbert's program will send up those hosts who have become household names doing interviews and offering analyses each night on the 24-hour cable news channels. The program, which is expected to begin appearing on Comedy Central as soon as early fall, is being produced by Mr. Stewart's production company, Busboy Productions.

It will be called 'The Colbert Report' - though, if Mr. Colbert has his way, the announcer will pronounce it with a faux-French accent: The co-BEAR ra-PORE.'

In the way 'The Daily Show' is kind of a goof on the structure of news, this is more of a goof on the cult of personality-type shows,' Mr. Stewart said in an interview.

'It's about a man and his forum,' Mr. Stewart said of such shows, including Mr. Colbert's. 'And by the way, he's not doing it for himself. He's doing it for the people. As a public service.'