It’s probably not an analogy Jon Stewart would appreciate, given his politics, but since soon after he began his run on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” in 1999, Ben Karlin has served as Karl Rove to Mr. Stewart’s George W. Bush, if not his Dick Cheney.
So it has come as a shock that Mr. Karlin, an executive producer of both Mr. Stewart’s show and “The Colbert Report,” has decided to leave those jobs at the end of this month.
The sense of intrigue has only been heightened by the way word got out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/arts/television/02karl.html?pagewanted=print