A big New York magazine article out this week on Jon Stewart has a chatty Glenn Beck telling the magazine he loves the Comedy Central star who regularly skewers Beck with video and commentary. Beck even tries to compare his show to Stewart's and complains Stewart does not get his message:

“Jon Stewart is very funny, and if I were in his position, I'd be doing a lot of the same things. In fact, a lot of the jokes I've heard before, either from my staff or myself,” Beck says by e-mail. “He takes things out of context (no worse than most of the other mainstream media) and is more interested in being funny than trying to actually understand the key messages in [my] show ... But I don't think he's looking for a Pulitzer ... People like Jon, his ratings are good. Good for him, keep doing what he's doing. People seem to like watching my show as well, and hopefully that continues for both of us for a very long time.”

Stewart, meanwhile, tells the magazine he and his staff constantly monitor Fox shows, as well as mainstream newspapers and many blogs for material:

Stewart sits behind his office desk, two brick walls forming a corner behind him. He wears the same off-camera outfit nearly every day: Black work boots, chinos, frayed gray T-shirt. He'll read the New York dailies as well, plus Talking Points Memo, Andrew Sullivan, maybe the blogger Allahpundit, searching for interesting thinking and potential Daily Show material. But Stewart intentionally keeps his media consumption modest. “Mostly I look at sports websites, so my head doesn't explode,” he says. “I'm saving that for home, when someone doesn't pass the gravy.”

Downstairs, Daily Show staffers monitor every minute of Fox News and hundreds of political shows, at least until workplace-cruelty inspectors find out. Groups of writers and researchers assemble in Stewart's office throughout the day, presenting revised scripts for the current show and updating him on the progress of longer-term segments, like a Wyatt Cenac search for Supreme Court contenders on Staten Island. There's discussion of a possible Stewart-Colbert public event, a parody of Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally. “Maybe we would do a 'March of the Reasonable,' on a date of no particular significance,” Stewart says.