Will the Emmys Snub Stephen Colbert Again?

Last year, funny faux newsman Stephen Colbert was nominated in the Primetime Emmy category of "Outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program." He famously lost the award to Barry Manilow. Colbert took the Emmy snub with a side-splitting lack of grace. "I lost to Barry Manilow! Barry Manilow!" Colbert cried. "I lost to the 'Copacabana'!" Then the comedian turned the whole episode into a hilarious public feud with the 70's crooner. Though the Emmy snub made for good comedy, there was something decidedly unfunny about it - Stephen Colbert is one of the most important satirists of our time and it's time that the Television Academy realizes it.

This year, Stephen Colbert has again been nominated for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program. His competition includes Ellen Degeneres, David Letterman, Tony Bennett and Colbert's own mentor, Jon Stewart. To be sure, it's an odd assortment of Emmy nominees, but that ought to be blamed on the Television Academy for lumping music and comedy together.

Tony Bennett's velvet voice aside, the real competition here should be between Colbert and Stewart. Certainly, the delightfully kooky Ellen Degeneres has done much to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation on television. But neither Ellen Degeneres nor David Letterman have done anything different enough to inspire more than water-cooler chatter for years.

By contrast, both Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report are doing such outstanding work that they're speaking to a new generation. They aren't just funny; they inform. And kids are listening.

Both men are smart and witty; their brand of humor is more 80's Dennis Miller than your usual stand-up routine. But where the two comedians differ is in the intensity of their performances. Stewart is all about the funny - he'll take the cheap shot even if it undermines an intellectual point, and some days, he phones it in. Colbert, on the other hand, is a contemporary Thomas Nast. He rarely has an off day, and he uses his razor sharp humor to cut through the fog of modern day journalism and propaganda. He forces his audience to think. In short, he should win the Emmy because his work is more important.

But will he win?

Like Letterman and Degeneres, Jon Stewart is so affable that he's an easy favorite. (Certainly, no one could watch Stewart spar with Senator John McCain and undervalue his work.) But Colbert's zany persona isn't affable. He ruffles feathers. His blisteringly funny performance at the White House Correspondents dinner in 2006 may have made him too hot to touch.

Hopefully the Primetime Emmy Awards won't make the same mistake twice, but even if Colbert loses - especially to Tony Bennett - the creative satirist is sure to turn it into comedy gold.