There is a game I like to play with my fellow Comedy Central fiends called "Who's the Better Fake-News Host: Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert?" A clever name it is not, clearly, but I find that among late-night nerds like me, this question inspires a spirited debate.

There are the Daily Show stalwarts who praise Stewart's ability to infuse his not-so-fake news broadcast with his own well-informed, often vitriolic insights. A recent favorite exchange took place between Stewart and a smug Scott McClellan, who was hawking his book, What Happened.

Stewart lays into the former White House spokesman for his reluctance to admit the administration had openly deceived the American public about the Iraq war. "Well, I don't think it was done with malice," says McClellan, stammering. Stewart doesn't let up: "They sat in a room and decided exactly what they weren't going to tell us. That is a sin of omission. That is a lie." Like every Stewart interview, this one ends in chuckles, but the look on McClellan's face said volumes: Wait, I thought this show was supposed to be fun!?

Can you imagine such a meaningful exchange happening on "real" news talk shows like Today, GMA, or even Larry King? Stewart is able to get away with such sharp, pointed questioning because it's all under the guise of "comedy," which makes his sticking-it-to-the-man line of questioning that much sweeter. And, I have to say, for someone who fake-acted his way through Big Daddy, Stewart is one sharp cookie.

But as much as I love The Daily Show, its interstitial skits and frat-boy theater antics often fall flat for me. I think Stewart's prowess gets muddied by the sub-par silliness of Jason Jones, Rob Riggle and Samantha Bee (as much as I appreciate a woman infiltrating this sausage fest, she stinks).

It's for this that I must admit my own allegiance to The Colbert Report: a well-oiled, self-absorbed exercise in the absurd. A true showman, Colbert sticks every landing, nails every joke, and embraces the goofiness of his alter ego with such aplomb, I can hardly imagine what the real Colbert is like at home while wearing sweats and digging into a piece of meatloaf.

And his interviews, well, these are pieces of theatrical art. He can talk Southern values with Toby Keith, foreign policy with Senator Jim Webb, fake-grouse about Obama with singer John Legend, and swap ego-maniacal barbs with Bill "Papa Bear" O'Reilly, without a single moment of dead air, and every moment dripping with "truthiness." (Oh, and he was the only American host to score an appearance by the band Rush a few weeks ago, which for me was like Christmas in July.)

Colbert is also man who can take a real-life, terribly unfunny subject like pundit Robert Novak's recently diagnosed brain tumor, and turn into yet another winning moment of satire, which he did on July 28. How? By having a conversation with himself, via a taped phone call, about the graciousness and sensitivity he showed for not lambasting Novak -- which he'd planned to do -- after hearing of the much-maligned pundit's illness.

It's moments like this, and there are many, when I ask myself, "Is he really going there? Can he pull it off?" And every time it's yes, and oh yes. For this, Colbert wins my vote as best fake news anchor, without a moment of indecision clouding my judgment.

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