"What is the tastier fruit: oranges or Elton John?"

"I think, um, I'm gonna have to say tangerines. Elton is too ripe."

"Are penguins easy to tame?"

"They are easy to tame but their guano is rather sticky. They have a very waxy emission. I've actually read about this."

Mo Rocca has made a living out of asking ridiculous questions, and these questions he's seamlessly responded to are commonplace in the world that Rocca and his fellow "The Daily Show" correspondents inhabit. Not only does he fearlessly answer them, but he would also have no trouble asking Donald Rumsefeld the same questions

Satire used to be confined to "Saturday Night Live," but college kids looking for a sardonic view on politics have been tuning in to "The Daily Show" of which Rocca is readily identifiable with his nasal voice, bowties, and tragically hip eyewear. He's the show's senior political analyst, does the Dollars and Cents financial update with Steven Colbert, and is well-known for his field pieces, including an interview with a "Cats" fanatic, people dressed as syphilitic sores, and more recently he dove back into college life for his acclaimed "Back to School Special."

Rocca is at ease among college students and enjoys the instant feedback of a live audience. It shouldn't be surprising then, that he is canvassing the country to speak at college campuses. In between campus stops and filming "The Daily Show" Rocca returned my phone call, and I set off to get Rocca's thoughts on issues that his speaking engagements don't cover.

"The Daily Show" has been an ironic and cynical lens with which Gen X and Yers (or as Rocca later dubbed them, "Generation Screwed by a Crappy Economy") filter news and politics. How then is the show and its correspondents able to not bore us with repetitive jokes about the overly dramatized fluff that passes as news these days?

"If all the jokes were sneeringly and sarcastically delivered, I wouldn't like it and the audience wouldn't like listening to it, so we make a range of jokes," says Rocca. "Sarcasm is probably the crudest form of irony. Anyone who's seen Reality Bites can understand the breadth of meaning that irony holds, and I say this sarcastically," he continues. "We call ourselves fake reporters. The quickest way to kill comedy is to make yourself all important."

Though Rocca's party affiliation and his own political leanings are somewhat ambiguous, he says that he believes there's little difference between the two major parties, and he cares deeply about the democratic process. "I would tell kids to turn off Phish and go to the polls on Election Day," he says. "I hate to get all 'everyone's cynical and apathetic' because I don't think that's true." He thinks that with the recent redistricting of so many electoral districts, it's more a matter of candidates picking voters instead of constituents choosing their candidates." Then he counters, saying "You know, I had no idea that a country born with such anger of not being represented has been for so long apathetic."

With the alleged wave of voter apathy and with so many young people voting Green in the last election and even the midterm elections, does Rocca think that voting Green or Libertarian is a wasted vote? "I'm so torn on this. I think the major parties want you to think it is (a wasted vote), and at first glance, in a close race, it is a waste of a vote. But if you feel in your heart that the Green party is the way to go, and the environment is your number one issue, then you should go for it."

Generations X and Y are constantly a target of pundits who blame apathy on slacker stereotypes, and studies have come out about their increasing tendency towards conservatism. Rocca disagrees.

"I don't think conservatism has much to do with Republicanism," he says. "If anything, it seems that the young people I talk to seem more and more able to separate important issues from less important issues. For instance they think that locking somebody up for smoking marijuana isn't logical." Rocca thinks that young people are still upset over social issues, just as much as the previous generation was. "They seem more tolerant of difference. They seem to believe that gay people should have the right to have relationships on par with straight people. On larger issues that really matter, I don't know that there's more of a difference."

Since the midterm elections, liberals forecast dreariness for the issues and laws they champion. Even conservatives fear that if things go awry, Republicans will have only themselves to blame. Is Rocca concerned?

"The parties are not all that different from each other. Democrats can always filibuster, and if after two years people are unhappy, they can always change it next time. I wouldn't be alarmed. If Bush is smart, he'll use his advantage of consensus building," says Rocca, who is quick to point out, "But what do I know, I'm just a fake reporter."

But still, Rocca, "The Daily Show" and Comedy Central have reason to be proud. With Peabody and Emmy Awards under their belt, their pseudo news broadcasts are able to do something that traditional news broadcasts have trouble doing: making news and politics fun, entertaining, yet still informative and relevant for the MTV Generation. Whether he's fighting off Reformists, interviewing a person in a penis costume, or going undercover as a high school cheerleader, Rocca eases through it all with a dramatically arched eyebrow and all the phony gravitas of Ashleigh Banfield reporting live from the Middle East.

Much of Rocca's campus presentations cover the show's Peabody Award-winning Indecision 2000 coverage. When Rocca and his fellow correspondents Nancy Walls, Steve Carell, Vance DeGeneres and Steven Colbert embarked on their 2000 campaign coverage, including the primaries and the national conventions, they were able to bring humor and a breath of fresh air to the road weary press corps as well as American audiences.

"When I went to the Reform party convention, people came out and threatened to kill me," said Rocca to a sparse yet attentive audience at an Illinois community college. "But it was actually when somebody touched my new cashmere, wool-blend suit jacket that I actually went ape shit."

Their pranks and gags could make or break a politician or candidate's on-air likeability. They were also prone to shouting out nonsensical questions during candidate press briefings to try and trip them up. The other campaign correspondents, from the legitimate media, appreciated the zaniness of Indecision 2000 reporters. "When we were on the campaign trail, they treated us very affectionately. They were flattered we were making fun of them and appreciated that we could make fun of the things they found frustrating about their jobs," says Rocca.

What kind of resume prepares a person with a multi-faceted job like this? Years of improv? An apprenticeship with a comedy legend? Try the Ivy League and a helping of porn and children's television. Rocca's road to success at "The Daily Show" is as eclectic as the stories he covers. Rocca graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor's degree in history, and many hours dedicated to the school's drama department where he was a part of group called "The Hasty Pudding Theatricals." After college he headed back to his native D.C. area and got by as a waiter. He was cast as Doody in a traveling company of "Grease," and then landed a job writing and producing for the children's show "Wishbone" in Dallas. He also worked on the Nickelodeon show "The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss." But, lo, Rocca is not a stranger to the print side of media. He was also a consulting editor for Perfect 10 Magazine, a magazine dedicated to featuring nude models without cosmetic enhancements.

"My pendulum was swinging too wildly between soft-core porn and children's television," Rocca tells his audiences about this point in his career. To get away from it, he hit the road in search of the homes of obscure presidents. "You know, all the presidents between Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, with all the facial hair, who lived in the Midwest." Of all of his career moves, visiting presidential homes led him to the "Daily Show," when a producer saw a segment Rocca recorded of his nationwide trek.

Rocca shows his college audiences slides of his pre-"The Daily Show" days, and tells stories about the dead presidents as well as the kooky characters he's met along the way. Rocca's speaking voice is without the nasally edge of his TV personality, but still entirely distinctive. He wore a dark grey long-sleeved tee with baggy, bright red corduroy pants, and his new chunky, blue and white glasses, which he says he bought in SoHo.

The quirkiness of his clothing certainly helps create the aura of goofiness that the intellectually challenged "Daily Show" correspondent is known for. He is also famous for his signature bowties, but confessed: "It's kind of a skeleton in the closet, but I don't think I tie them correctly. The bottom right end of it always flops down and I basically have to prop it up. I would urge people to stick with the long necktie. I adopted the goddamn bowtie to stand out," says Rocca.

And he hopes that viewers don't confuse his dim-witted on-air persona with his real identity. "I sure hope I don't look that stupid. I just imitate people I watch on TV all day long. Fox and CNN are neck and neck for over the top reporting."

Finally, I wanted to figure out the extent of Rocca's patriotism. With the last year of incessant flag waving and the election of Bush's war in Iraq supporters, patriotism is making a comeback. "Sure, I'm probably patriotic, you know, if I made the trek to see where Chester Arthur lived. Also, I think muted tones are out this year. Red, white and blue is the new black. And I wear lots of red. You might as well go for it."