Glad to have Mr. Tony back

After a summer of overheated and self-righteous zealotry, Washington was desperate for some consistent levity to lighten the mood. Luckily, Northwest D.C.’s own Anthony Irwin Kornheiser has returned to the airways after a long layoff to deliver some of the smartest two hours of programming anywhere.

The show airs on the Daniel Snyder-owned ESPN radio affiliate, but it rarely focuses on sports. The show is much more likely to wander through politics, reality TV, movie reviews and Kornheiser’s hilariously neurotic musings. There’s also plenty of sage insight from prominent pols like Newsweek’s Howard Fineman and “the smartest man in Washington,” uber-lawyer Abbe Lowell, but there’s also the absurd randomness of having Eugene Robinson talking about "American Idol" and James Carville picking obscure college football betting lines.

The show is at its best when Kornheiser is dealing with the oddball topics picked from the day’s papers. Just yesterday, Kornheiser ended the show with the Washington Post story on lead birther Orly Taitz. He asked incredulously, “How did she get a law degree and a dental degree? How did she keep it together long enough to pass these things? She seems so utterly wacked at this moment.”

The show works to a large degree because there has been a rapport built up over the years between listeners, guests, the rotating co-hosts and Kornheiser. Instead of having yahoo phone-callers waste airtime with nonsensical points, the show features loyal e-mailers who send in short messages playing off long-running jokes. E-mails range from the juvenile (impending animal rebellion) to the clever (daily recaps of the show in haikus).

Kornheiser is returning to the radio after retiring from his most lucrative and high-profile gig, as the third man in the booth on "Monday Night Football." While "Monday Night Football" is a big stage, it never was the best vehicle for Kornheiser’s talents. It was difficult for Kornheiser to build up the familiarity and comfort level with his booth mates that he has on the radio and his hit TV show, "Pardon the Interruption" with fellow Washington Post veteran Michael Wilbon (a relationship decades in the making). Despite being one of the best sports columnists and humor writers of his generation, local radio might actually be Kornheiser’s best and most enduring format — and D.C. is surely a more enjoyable place because of it.