The relationship of Polytropos HQ with the local cable company has always been troubled. My struggle with the annoying cable box they installed is a long story that probably shouldn’t go on the Web. We pay for bare-bones cable, the option you pick if you want good reception for the network channels, but not much else. A few days ago, the cable powers switched around the channels and made who knows what other changes, and by some strange alchemy of the airwaves, we now have Comedy Central, which hasn’t been the case since we had full cable in our old apartment three years ago.

That’s why we sat in muted, almost reverend anticipation at 10:59, waiting for the one piece of television we had sorely missed all those years: The Daily Show. And I’m happy to report that Jon Stewart has still got the moxy. The show hasn’t lost its edge — how could it, really, with the current Administration proving such fertile ground for satire?

The Daily Show is immediately preceded by the Man Show, which, as some of you may know, traditionally rounds out its broadcast by displaying scantily clad women bouncing up and down on trampolines. I am loath to miss even a moment of Stewart’s opening, since it’s usually the best part of the show, but Suanna will not, under any circumstances, allow us to watch even a millisecond of girls on trampolines just for the sake of not missing any of what follows. This creates a slight logistical problem, but nothing that a bit of planning and some carefully synchronized timepieces can’t fix.