Where do Ideas Come From?

Ever wonder where ideas come from?  More specifically, ever wonder where the idea for the daily show came from?  Wonder no longer, or at least marvel at this prophetic quote from Neil Postman's 1985 book, in which he is talking about solutions to the problem of television as medium:

"The nonsensical answer is to create television programs whose intent would be, not to get people to stop watching television but to demonstrate how television ought to be viewed, to show how television recreates and degrades our conception of news, political debate, religious thought, etc.  I imagine such demonstrations would of necessity take the form of parodies, along the lines of "Saturday Night Live" and "Monty Python," the idea being to induce a nationwide horse laugh over television's control of public discourse.  But, naturally, television would have the last laugh.  In order to command an audience large enough to make a difference, one would have to make the programs vastly amusing, in the television style.  Thus, the act of criticism itself would, in the end, be co-opted by television.  The parodists would become celebrities, would star in movies, and would end up making television commercials."

Or they end up in musicals and running for president.