Last night, Mr. Stewart’s vexation was keener than his wit.

He likened the “Speechless” ads, a series of bleak, self-righteous black and white video spots on the guild’s Web site, to an anti-AIDS public service message. He noted that late-night talk shows stayed dark for just one week after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, whereas the current strike  a dispute over Internet revenues  had lasted nine weeks. And he joked, somewhat sourly, that by that calculation, “the writers’ strike is nine times worse than 9/11.”

His sole interview for the night was with Ron Seeber, a professor of labor relations at Cornell University, who failed to clarify why the strike was going on so long.

Mr. Stewart had funny moments. But overall, the show was a jarring display of solipsism from a performer famous for expertly tweaking the vanity and self-importance of politicians and conventional news organizations. Mr. Stewart is just as merciless when it comes to the self-serving compromises and moral ambiguities of other institutions. And his position was certainly ambiguous: he was resentful of the producers and angry at the writers’ representatives, who so far have failed either to reach an agreement or to grant Comedy Central a special exemption for “The Daily Show.”

Mr. Colbert also returned, but with less angst. He opened his show by sitting at his desk feeding script pages into a paper shredder, as if destroying incriminating evidence. When Mr. Stewart asked him if he was violating the rules, Mr. Colbert teasingly accused Mr. Stewart of having relied on prepared material. “I’m very alarmed by how prepared you seem,” Mr. Colbert said, adding that he would denounce him to “The Writers’ Guild People’s Council for the Preservation of the Written Word.”

His task was easier, of course. “The Colbert Report” is a parody of Fox News-style cable opinion shows, and he plays the part of an obtuse, pompous arch-conservative; much of his show consisted of clips from past episodes in which Mr. Colbert ranted against the tyranny of unions. (“You know what prevents childhood obesity?” he said. “A 19-hour shift at the mill.”) But Mr. Colbert kept his sense of humor trained on the campaign trail, joking about Sen. Barack Obama’s rise and interviewing Mike Huckabee.