n Comedy Central's ''Daily Show With Jon Stewart,'' the host begins his ''Indecision 2000'' coverage with a stern admonition.
''I urge all Americans to remain calm,'' he declares before cutting away to a correspondent holding a town meeting with elderly Florida voters. There, the senior citizens try to break for lunch by filling out secret ''moth menu'' ballots. But when someone improperly votes for a burrito, the tallies have to be discarded.
''Saturday Night Live'' opens with a special announcement from Al Gore (Darrell Hammond) and George W. Bush (Will Ferrell). The two stalemated candidates announce a copresidency. With the ''Odd Couple'' theme playing in the background, we see a slovenly Bush hanging around with a fastidious Gore as the announcer intones: ''Can these two men share the White House without driving each other crazy?''
For much of the media - and particularly the cable news networks that have found ratings manna in the Florida standoff - such hilarity may seem like sacrilege. With their u biquitous ''Breaking News'' logos and wall-to-wall coverage, the cable networks are in full major-crisis mode. Meanwhile, opinion pages are chock full of anguished hand-wringing, like a Wall Street Journal column by former Soviet chess champ Garry Kasparov warning that the protracted presidential battle is threatening the ''leading role of the U.S. ... in establishing a more democratic and safer international environment.''
But in a bizarre election drama that has digressed into self-parody and turned the ''pregnant chad'' into a household term, it's the comedians who are a doing a far better job of capturing the zeitgeist than the armies of self-serving pundits, lawyers, and pols dominating news coverage. In this environment, the real oracles are spouting one-liners.
''So here's the deal,'' noted David Letterman in a monologue that succinctly summed up the nation's mood and Election Day verdict. ''We have George W. Bush, not the president of the United States; Al W. Gore, not president of the United States. Whaddya say we just leave it that way?''
And who offered more salient media criticism than Jay Leno with his observation on Monday night?
''Here's something that's really annoying me,'' cracked the ''Tonight Show'' host. ''These news channels ... It's Day 6. Can we drop the `Breaking News' part OK? More breaking news? Nothing has happened. Another vote was found.''
''Forget `Survivor.' We have found the ultimate reality television,'' chuckles Madeleine Smithberg, executive producer of ''The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. ''It's reached the level where it's far too absurd and [the pundits] are so far inside it that the irony is escaping them. In spite of ourselves, we've become this actual legitimate source of interpretation.''
According to ''Saturday Night Live'' publicist Marc Liepis, last week's ''Odd Couple'' show (abetted by guest star Ricky Martin) pulled significantly higher-than-average ratings. When asked if the program will revisit the Florida recount theme this week, Liepis responds simply: ''We can't not do it.''
In an effort to stay on top of the latest election verdict insanity, ABC's ''Politically Incorrect'' has altered its taping schedule this week. Turning on a dime, Pizza Hut hopped on the amusing implications of the recount with a 30-second ad for its new Insider Pizza that aired from Nov. 9 to Nov. 12. To the tune of ''Hail to the Chief,'' an announcer opens by saying, '' Someday you can tell your grandkids you were there when Florida decided the next president by voting for Bush. No Gore. No Bush. No Gore.''
Pizza Hut spokeswoman Patty Sullivan says ''we've had a great response'' to the ad, and ''we've also seen it spike our sales for the Insider. ''
In his ''Beantown Madness'' comedy show, Dick Doherty allow s the audience to vote hecklers out of the room and exile them to the bar. Now, given the Florida imbroglio, he tells the audience he's not sure whether their heckler votes are valid. Not surprisingly, Doherty says, comics are working the presidential situation into their routines.
The Web sites are also having a field day. On Nationallampoon
.com, you get ''The Big Book of Florida Ballots, '' which features such disputed past ballot initiatives as ''Proposition H - No on Hurricanes.'' Looking to capitalize on online interactivity, Slate.com gave readers a chance to name the Florida recount. The more clever responses included ''Gator Bawl 2000,'' ''Punch N' Duty'' ''Minutia in Volusia'' and ''Electile Dysfunction.''
How far could recount mania spread? ''It's starting to affect businesses, too,'' insisted Leno the other night. ''Burger King demanded a recount if it turns out McDonald's is actually 11 hamburgers short of 100 billion.''
Even as the joke tellers reflect America's current confused but fundamentally bemused response to election gridlock, they could portend a more partisan national climate once a winner emerges. If the candidates think they've been roughed up so far, they ain't seen nothin' yet.
Lucien Hold, a talent agent for New York's Comic Strip comedy club, compares the election to a ''car crash that's still in progress.'' Until it runs its course, he adds, ''you can't [really] make fun of either side.''
