The Colbert Report

Comedy Central

You know that gag where Stephen Colbert introduces his guest, but instead of the guest coming out from behind a curtain, Stephen bounds victoriously across the stage to meet the guest, who is already seated and looking awkward, while the crowd chants Stephen! Stephen!? He's done that same joke hundreds of times. And yet it's still funny. Colbert soaks in the adulation with such commitment, you can't help but laugh. That's the show in a nutshell: He puts himself into that character with every cell of his body, right on down to the hair. The Colbert Report is the longest-running performance-art piece on TV right now.