You have to hand it to Jon Stewart: The Daily Show host at least has the good sense to mock his "Basic Cable Personality Clash" with Jim Cramer the very moment it becomes mockable.

Cramer, the relentlessly incorrect host of CNBC's Mad Money, discussed his ongoing war of words with Stewart this morning on sister NBC shows Today (on the flagship network) and Morning Joe (on MSNBC). Even he seemed to think the feud was being inflated beyond all reason. "I think you ought to lighten up," he told Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough as Scarborough ranted against the Daily Show.

Stewart apparently feels likewise. So while he made fun of some of Cramer's statements from the NBC morning-show tour on the Daily Show tonight, as promised, he also made light of the clash itself. As it turned out, those were the show's funniest moments (see latter half of the clip above).

Why is it so much fun to watch these two entertainers fight? Cramer's been taken down a peg before, after all. There are plenty of serious examinations of the state of the economy out there. But that's all so depressing, especially when you realize there will be no Jon Stewart-supplied punchline at the end.