"Daily Show"/"Colbert" Exec Producer Quits

Ben Karlin, who worked at The Onion before being tapped by Jon Stewart, has abruptly left his key role as exec producer on "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." Everyone insists the parting is amicable, but it happened very suddenly and with a number of projects (like a Comedy Central sitcom about a minor league baseball team) up in the air. This is not a smooth transition, so while everyone may remain friends, it is clearly not a happy time for the show. Still, since Stewart is very active in the creative end, there hopefully won't be a temporary or long-term drop in quality. "The Daily Show" by the way is now averaging 1.6 milllion viewers a night and "Colbert" 1.2 million, a jump up from the previous year.