Jon Stewart has, time and again, shown the ineptitude of the bias and selective amnesia characteristic of FOX News. After years of FOX serving as a punching bag for Jon Stewart, Bill O’Reilly, FOX’s main ratings leader, had to bring Stewart to defend himself and his network against the host so often exposing their errors.

One accepts that Jon Stewart works in the name of comedy more than in the news world, hence the Comedy Central icon on-screen during his shows. In fact, he admits as much many times on his own, claiming no vestige of journalism. Nonetheless, O’Reilly took such great offense at Stewart’s portrayals of FOX that he attacked Stewart’s credibility and that of his audience. Early in the interview, O’Reilly asked Stewart the very broad question of how he felt President Obama had done thus far. Stewart offered a humorous, cogent, and detailed answer, and O’Reilly responded by saying, “You know, that’s a pretty smart analysis. You know, a lot of people don’t think you’re smart. Did your writers come up with that?” Stewart responded by quipping, “No, they’re in my pocket.”

Later O’Reilly mentioned a Washington Post article from Howard Kurtz citing Stewart as “an important cultural arbiter,” but primarily as a setup to mock that claim. Possibly auditioning for some comedy gig himself, O’Reilly said, “That is frightening, though. Do you understand the implications of you being important in any context?” He continued, “I’m just stunned that this has found its way into print.” Stewart downplayed the comment, saying to O’Reilly, “Listen, Mr. O, I’m just happy to be in the major leagues here. Thanks for calling me up to the show. Listen, I don’t take any of that stuff seriously.” Even O’Reilly chuckled at Stewart’s response, but he again attempted to question Stewart’s credibility by retorting, “When you deliver your stuff, are you cognizant of the fact that your audience are [sic] primarily stone slackers who love Obama and when you criticize Obama, you may be turning on them?”

O’Reilly asked such pointed questions as, “Are you shocked that a Democratic poll operation shows that FOX News is the most trusted news operation in the country? Forty-nine percent of Americans trust FOX News.” Returning the volley with his characteristic wit, Stewart simply replied, “No. Are you shocked that an internet poll said I was the most trusted newscaster in America?” O’Reilly proceeded to diminish the value of the latter poll before Stewart began to explain his thoughts on FOX’s ratings. As Stewart put it, “Fox News is the most passionate and sells the clearest narrative of any news organization — if that’s, are you still referring to it in that manner?” Obviously, O’Reilly maintained that it was and presented as evidence of his own nonpartisan efforts the fact that John McCain would not come on the show as a presidential nominee and that Dick Cheney, who O’Reilly referred to as “Mr. Republican,” also never came on the show.

Unfortunately, the facts disagree with O’Reilly’s stance. For one, McCain did appear on O’Reilly’s program after he had locked up the nomination and he had intended to appear with Sarah Palin a week before the election save for O’Reilly’s team canceling the event “due to weather concerns.” McCain also appeared on Sean Hannity’s program during his campaign, once appearing alongside his wife, further undercutting O’Reilly’s defense of the network. Dick Cheney made parallel visits to visit Hannity during and after his vice presidency, including when Hannity shared the set with Alan Colmes. However, Cheney never fielded questions from Holmes, once again supporting Stewart’s idea of a “narrative” FOX refuses to stray from with its guests. At best, O’Reilly showed that he largely does work as a “Republican shill,” but that aside from instances explained by his occasional amnesia and “bad weather,” some people just may not like him personally and opt for another shill instead.

O’Reilly may want to reconsider bringing in people like Jon Stewart on his show in the future. Too often and plausibly, Stewart’s analysis of O’Reilly and his compatriots at FOX suggested that they may as well switch networks to make the network names more credible, especially when O’Reilly’s only counters were jabs at Stewart and his audience and warped interpretations of O’Reilly’s own biased approach to the news. Though Stewart’s does make O’Reilly more entertaining by intelligently responding with aplomb to O’Reilly’s subtle condescension, people should generally avoid listening to “Bill O” — and choose to Turn Off FOX.