Yep, call me a day late and a dollar short, but after all this time, Stewart and Colbert were back on last night, although still sans writers. While I understand it’s a tough situation for all, having this many people out of work (not just Jon, Steven and the writers, but everyone from makeup to camera to sound, etc) is crazy. Think about your job if you were ‘off’ for two months and had no way to resolve it yourself? Anyway, here’s to the shows (and people’s lives) getting back on track soon. As for the ‘talent’, they were back in the guises we love, with Stewart showing his solidarity with the writers by claiming that, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ is a show we do with our very creative team of field producers and correspondents and studio people and, of course, our writers,” he said Monday night, then added with pointed irony, “From now on, until the end of the strike, we’ll be doing ‘A Daily Show with Jon Stewart.’ But not ‘THE Daily Show.’” Meanwhile Colbert kept it in character with a tirade I can see in my head, “I got a problem here,” snapped Colbert in his most indignant tone. “There are no words on my (Tele)prompter.” Refusing to concede that writers are required to provide his “commentaries,” Colbert declared, “My understanding is, this little magic box (the Teleprompter) reads my thoughts and lays them up on the screen for me to read to the audience.” His director advised him the words would have had to be furnished by staff writers. “The writers!” Colbert scoffed. “The guys on the fourth floor with the opium bongs, playing Guitar Hero all day! I find that a bit of a stretch.” “I don’t like unions,” railed Colbert, whose on-air persona is a right-wing blowhard, “and I don’t need writers. Which brings me to tonight’s Word” — a favorite feature of the show. But Colbert was quickly mortified: There was no word. That would have required a writer.” Ah, so nice for them to be back, maybe tonight I’ll actually have the TV on again; bring on the election coverage Jon!