My friend and coworker Philocrites has written a smashing reflection: Bush and Colbert, Lear and the Fool.
Remember King Lear’s Fool? The jester in the play doesn’t crack Bob Hope one-liners or play the lute; he introduces a very dark kind of comic relief. He satirizes Lear’s misjudgments. He’s the only person who tells Lear the truth, even though Lear can’t bear to acknowledge the full significance of his mistakes until the end.
Go read the rest of it.