Laughing While Economic Fires Are Burning: The Daily Show-CNBC Sequel

Yesterday, after financial "expert" turned laughing-stock Jim Cramer (Buy Bear Stearns! Buy!) took one more swing at Jon Stewart, who had mocked CNBC's ill-fated investment advice, I wrote, "While the stock market may be down, the glee factor for The Daily Show’s writers may have just gone up another few points."

Prediction confirmed: Jon Stewart completes Cramer's humiliation with the help of Dora the Explorer and Boots the Monkey:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

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Laughing While Economic Fires Are Burning: The Daily Show Takes Down CNBC's "Wizards"

In the 2009 Recession-Not-Quite-A-Depression-Yet, this is shaping up to be a comedy saga.

Here's the story so far. Last Wednesday The Daily Show prepared a welcoming feature for their scheduled guest, financial "expert" Rick Santelli of the US network CNBC. Santelli bailed out at the last minute, but Jon Stewart and Co. ran the segment on CNBC's impeccable financial advice:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

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Now any sensible investment advisor would have kept his/her head down at this point. But "sensible" and "investment" don't necessarily fit easily with media ego, even in this economic climate.

So Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money", tried to split a few monetary hairs, snapping that Stewart had said "that I recommended [buying shares in the investment firm] Bear Stearns the week before it collapsed, even though I was saying that I thought it could be worthless as soon as the following week. I did tell an emailer that his deposit in his account at Bear Stearns was safe, but through a clever sound bite."

It was a response which merely set up Stewart for more fun with Cramer's extended car-crash advice on Bear Stearns:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

In Cramer We Trust

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Stay down, Mr Cramer! Please, for the love of decency and your own shredded reputation, accept you've been knocked out. But no. On this morning's Today show in the US, he took one more swing:

A comedian's attacking me! Wow! He runs a variety show!

I suspect that, while the stock market may be down, the glee factor for The Daily Show's writers may have just gone up another few points.