Brian Williams is by far and away the best regular guest on “The Daily Show.”  Williams makes the news all boring on NBC with his gravitas, but he’s actually got a very dry sense of humor and an acerbic wit.  On last night’s show, Jon Stewart grilled him about the journalistic ethics — or lack thereof — in trying to land an interview with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.  It made for some terrific exchanges, but none better than this:

Stewart: Walter Cronkite was a giant in the industry.  Is that a man you looked up to?  Is that a man who…
Williams: The guy I wanted to be when I was a kid.
Stewart: Really?
Williams: It was like Carrot Top to you.
Stewart: [pause] So, how does it feel to fall so short?

Best thing on TV last night, hands down.  And that’s saying a lot, because “Dating in the Dark” was excellent.  So congratulations, Brian Williams and Jon Stewart.  You bested the show about people making out in a dark room.

Liberal white humor geeks’ pants exploded last night when the worlds of Barack Obama and Conan O’Brien intersected on “The Tonight Show.”  If you can get NBC.com’s crappy video player to work, you can see Conan replay the clip of Brian Williams asking the president about his trip to the Middle East coinciding with the first week of “The Tonight Show” not sucking.  It’s a fun little segment, but the New York Times wagged its old gray finger at NBC for the stunt:

There was a time when such cross promotion between a network news division and its corporate entertainment sibling – during a presidential interview, no less — would have caused rebellion in the newsroom. It will be interesting to see what reaction, if any, there will be to this bit of stunt programming at NBC News.

It will also be interesting to see if there is any political blowback, especially from those who believe that some in the news media are too chummy with the president and his administration.

Yeah, I hate the way the president doesn’t come off as a total dick.  Damn you, NBC!  I honestly don’t think I could work at the New York Times for more than a half hour before I slapped someone.  Maybe twenty minutes.  But I doubt it.