After Jon Stewart kicked Viacom's synergy machine out of whack by anointing Benjamin Button the Sleepytime Picture of the Year, a Colbert Report corrective was the least Comedy Central could arrange.

Not that there was much countermanding going on Thursday night, when Colbert's epic game of word association still implicated Stewart's favorite Slumdog Millionaire as this year's Oscar winner. But the afterthought of opening a window for Button — which "did seem pretty important," Colbert dismissively notes — no doubt relieved some of the pressure coming down from the top. Expect Carlos Mencia to finish the job by Tuesday's voting deadline, relocating Slumdog's Child-ExploitationGate controversy to East L.A. in a lukewarm, last-ditch bit of satirical sabotage.

• 'The Colbert Report' [Comedy Central]

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