Daily Show or Colbert: How do you get your fake news?

Here's an intriguing headline: Monday night's ratings for The Daily Show were down 15 percent from its last original episode while The Colbert Report's ratings were up by 11 percent. Surprising enough as it is, but the story gets even more interesting when you look at the ratings for both shows before the strike: in October, 30% of The Daily Show viewers didn't stick around for The Colbert Report.

That's something I'm having a hard time understanding. I tend to think of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as one show interrupted by a bonus theme song. I even have the DVR programmed to record an extra half-hour of The Daily Show so that both shows are recorded together. (That way I don't have to worry about the trade-off between Jon and Stephen getting interrupted by the DVR interface.) Apparently, nearly a third of Daily Show viewers don't feel the same way.

Adding to my puzzlement, both my partner and I are bigger fans of Colbert with its more satirical character, not to mention Colbert's ability to deliver very sharp remarks to a guest while phrasing it like a compliment. The format allows the Report to have a stronger voice. And Stephen's fake pundit has been nabbing press with fun little stunts like the metaphor-off with Sean Penn, his anti-Hungarian comments and his presidential run. I'm surprised that so many people can tune in for The Daily Show and not stick around for Stephen's antics afterwards.

Then again, could our preference for Colbert be partly based in his gay humor and for his over the top and - dare I say it - campy persona? Maybe we enjoy the Report a little more because of a gay sensibility? (It's worth noting that Colbert's first guest after a 10-week absence was outspoken gay political writer Andrew Sullivan.)

That has me wondering about how AfterElton.com readers get their nightly dose of fake news. Do you watch both shows or do you tune in for just Jon or Stephen? Then again, maybe you like the unintended comedy of Bill O'Reilly. The hilarity of lines like "Was this a negligee situation?" can be hard to beat for some people...

(Thanks to the No Fact Zone for the pointer.)