By Jennifer Larson

Jon Stewart has the golden touch. After the huge success of his spin-off THE COLBERT REPORT, Stewart and Demetri Martin are creating a new show for Comedy Central. There is a twist though, for anybody expecting something similar to the hugely successful THE DAILY SHOW. Jon’s new comedy will be more in the vein of CHAPELLE'S SHOW, with sketches and variety type entertainment. The show, which usatoday.com reports will be called IMPORTANT THINGS WITH DEMETRI MARTIN, “is slated for the second half of 2008; anywhere from six to 10 episodes will be executive produced by Jon and Demetri, who has been a featured contributor on the THE DAILY SHOW.” So I guess that means we still have to tune in to the THE DAILY SHOW for our political updates.

Jon Stewart’s THE DAILY SHOW has become a cultural phenomenon, and provided most of the college age voters with all their political information. Some think that’s a bad thing, but while his show is side-splittingly funny, it does report the real news. And, in fact, many politicians clamor to get on the show, because of all the exposure to the younger set they will get. Unfortunately, it didn’t help John Kerry in the last election, but that was probably more his fault than anything else. With a new Stewart production on the way, I can only assume there will be wild entertainment to come. I think the premise is a good idea as well, considering how well it did for Dave Chapelle. The demise of CHAPELLE'S SHOW seems to be due to overwork and stress, not a lack of hysterical material, and Jon Stewart is the perfect guy to fill the void that was left when Dave stepped out of the spotlight.

The good news is whatever happens, we still have two of Stewart’s shows to watch, if this one doesn’t make a go of it. So that means it’s really a win win situation for the viewers, and I can’t see it hurting Jon if it fails. THE COLBERT REPORT was a huge success right out of the box, so I doubt this new one will be an inferior piece of work. So with that, I say bring it on Jon.