Jon Stewart and ... Liza Minnelli?

In case you haven't already figured it out, I am a bit of a bleeding heart liberal. So Oprah made me like her just a little bit today by having Jon Stewart on the show. In fact, I'm liking her so much that I know this will be a short post, because I can't even really make fun of her. And I certainly can't get snarkier than Jon Stewart, so why bother?

Stewart had some pretty funny moments, starting with coming out at the beginning of the show with a rolling suitcase, assuming Oprah was going to send him somewhere just like she did with the premiere audience. And when she asked him what he has learned from parenthood, he said, "It's an amazing opportunity to be able to ruin someone from scratch."

In what I'm sure was a planned move, Stewart announced his "Rally to Restore Sanity" last week, just in time to show up on Oprah this week. You may have heard that Oprah pulls in a lot of viewers, which can only help ensure that Stewart gets more people at his rally than Glenn Beck (Stewart's "moneymaker," and his "kids' college tuition," as he said on the show today) got at his.

Oprah complained about never being on Stewart's show, so Stewart invited her, and Oprah accepted. I will be interested to see if that actually happens. Stewart just wondered if Travolta will fly Oprah there, and where she will take his audience.

Finally, Stewart did a little guest lecture in a media class at my alma mater, New York University, mostly in an effort to promote his new book, Earth: A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. When he walked in the room, people went crazy, and one girl cried.

Mostly, Oprah let Stewart rant on current events, while she laughed and tried to keep up with his intelligent humor. Spoiler: She couldn't do it.  I'm just glad she let him get some good stuff in about the Ground Zero mosque, the Arizona immigration law, and a few other topics. It's never a bad thing when the logical side is showcased to a larger audience.

So, that was Stewart. And then there was Liza. The audience gave her a standing ovation, and I just wonder if they really care, or if they just figure someone like Liza Minnelli is supposed to get that sort of welcome. Minnelli blamed her marriage to David Gest on her encephalitis, though she called it "brain encephalitis," which is as redundant as calling David Gest a "gay homosexual."

The best moment came when they showed a picture from the Minnelli/Gest wedding, and the four people in the shot were Gest, Minnelli, Michael Jackson, and Liz Taylor. What an insane cast of characters.

Minnelli has an album coming out, so she sang at the end of the show. At one point during "New York, New York," the camera cut to Oprah in the audience. And Oprah was looking at the camera to make sure it was looking at her.

And then she really got into it.

Thank goodness. I was worried my Oprah-watching experience wasn't going to be complete if I didn't catch a glimpse of her singing along. The only problem is they didn't leave the camera on her long enough to see her mess up the words. Maybe next time.