Colbert and Oliver are not the only 'children' of Stewart. In these days of Serbian populist government Zoran Kesić's show '24 Minutes with Zoran Kesić' is one of the few islands of open critique of the regime on the TV with national coverage. (https://www.youtube.com/user/24minutaofficial)

I would also add to the list Bassem Youssef, Egypt's satirist, who happens to be a cardiac surgeon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassem_Youssef

There's also a strong tradition of this kind of thing in Britain (That Was The Week That Was, Brass Eye, Private Eye, 10 O'Clock News, etc.), and Canada (This Hour Has 22 Minutes is legendary, and has been running since 1993).

Spitting Image (TV Series 1984–1996)

"The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Television Awards, including one for editing in 1989, and even won two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category."

"10 O'Clock News" - are you critiquing standard news coverage, or do you mean "Not The Nine O'clock News" there?

I think I was actually thinking about 10 O'Clock Live. My mistake (and a shameful one, it was one of my favorites).

But yes, Let us not forget Not the Nine O'Clock News.

If you are going to credit SNL you have to credit Chevy Chase.

Rush Limbaugh had a show in 1992 where he photoshopped mocking photos of politicians and made montages of politicians "debating" themselves saying contradictory thing.