Today's Fresh Air was great. The guests were Harry Shearer, Will Ferrell from Saturday Night Live, and the editor-in-chief and head writer for The Onion, my favorite satirical newspaper.

The show was about satire after the events of September 11. What's appropriate, what's not, what can be funny now as opposed to before. I like satire a lot, not only because it's funny, but because it can cause people (including me) to take a look at the things they take for granted.

Harry Shearer was as insightful as he usually is, especially in his consideration of the mess surrounding Bill Maher ("the softer side of Sears") and the treatment by the major media of the big question: "What Next?"

He also said this:

This is a time when the basic role of humor and topical comedy becomes what Freud said it was, which is to laugh at what makes us scared.

Will Ferrell's George Bush impersonation will be back this Saturday, but more representative of how people are thinking of him now, as a leader instead of a moron. That's certainly a change, but he mentioned that they try to follow how people are thinking about the subjects they cover.

I thought The Onion had a great issue after taking a week off following the attack. (Warning: Pottymouth!) They were very Onion-like, but respectful and even compassionate. I thought it was interesting that they considered their piece "Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell" as something cathartic, but also a way for them to offer their usual type of harsh treatment, at a time when nothing else was much of a candidate for that.

You can listen to the show in RealAudio using the links on the page for today's show.