DAN RATHER To "Play It Straight" On COMEDY CENTRAL Tonight

(From The Philadelphia Inquirer -- By Gail Shister)

This is not a joke.

DAN RATHER will analyze election results with JON STEWART and STEPHEN COLBERT tonight at 11 pm on COMEDY CENTRAL's live, hour-long INDECISION 2006 special.

"It's a risk, I guess, but what the hell," says Rather, who covered every national election since 1962 for CBS before being drop-kicked in June. Now he's global correspondent for
MARK CUBAN's HDNET.

"J. Stewart and company offered the chance, and I've taken it," Rather, 75, says. "I don't do comedy, I do politics, which sometimes is one and the same."

"Certainly, one can't cover politics and not have a sense of humor about it. Let's face it, politics is often a theater of the absurd."

Equally absurd are the corny RATHERISMS he dragged out during many election-night marathons.

Among our faves -- "If a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a handgun."

And -- "This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach."

Don't look for such classic nuggets on tonight's Midterm Midtacular, Rather says.

Dan Rather To "Play It Straight" On Comedy Central Tonight