Will the Emmys Snub Stephen Colbert Again?

Preview of the 2007 Primetime Emmys

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.