Cohen and comedic halflife

Sasha Baron Cohen's hardcore gag at the Golden Globes, alluding to his colleague's "balls slapping against my chin" or somesuch, pretty much intimates that he has shot own comedic wad. He can't outdo Borat. He may plateau for a while, but soon he's headed down to hang out with the likes of Martin Shore and Dana Carvey.

Not that there's anything surprising in that. Comedic longevity is a tough racked. John Stewart, has aged well, particularly relative to the benchmarks of Carson and Letterman, aided by a few things:

1. Multimedia: He can use clips easily
2. Ensemble: Letterman and Carson have/had sidekicks but not a full crew (though they did: think of some of Chris Eliot's early work on Letterman: that guy used to be funny)
   
3. 30 minutes: half an hour is easier to fill than a whole one
   

And with all these advantages, Stewart is still having a hard time keeping it fresh, and has declined.

Colbert will be challenged to keep it up. He does too much on his own. He's already not all that funny.

Ensemble gives legs.

30 minutes vs 60 for Carson and Letterman.