During my years of teenage angst, I was having a tough time adjusting to the awkward and often uncomfortable social changes of adolescence. During this time I found true love -- a love that has never deviated and has always been there for me when I needed it most. That love is television.

Around the age of 12, my parents divorced. My notions of normalcy and relationships were shattered because the separation came way out of left field to my still young and oblivious mind. I didn't see my dad as much and my mom worked later to better provide for my older brother and I. I had trouble finding guidance through this turbulent time, and that is when television came into play. My life at home was centered around television. When I woke up in the morning, I would turn on VH1 and watch the top 25 music videos of the week. When I got home, I would catch the ending of whatever movie Comedy Central was playing until Scrubs came on. I became infatuated with the nightly lineup Comedy Central had to offer. After Scrubs would be The Daily Show with John Stewart followed by The Colbert Report. At first, I simply thought that these shows were just faux news shows with a joke here and there, but I soon realized they are so much more than that.

Recently, these shows have been going through some big changes. The underrated Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore has replaced The Colbert Report, former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver is the host of an incredible HBO news program called Last Week Tonight, and one of my heroes, Jon Stewart, will soon be leaving the program he has hosted since 1999. But why are these shows so important? To some, they just make a playful mockery of politics in the U.S. and around the world. To me, they are a source of insight, master works of comedic art, and most importantly, a testament to the cherished freedom of speech.

The comedians and political analysts who write for these shows do amazing work. They are able to package local, national, and global politics into an easily comprehensive and appealing package to all demographics with the main one being a typically younger audience. Using their presence on the Internet and their social media clout, they are able to bring attention to issues that would typically go unnoticed. On May 17, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver brought national attention to a House Appropriations bill amendment that is set to be resubmitted by Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur next month. This bill would give chicken farmers across the country the ability to speak up against the big poultry companies without fear of their employers retaliating against the farmers. Oliver ended the segment by claiming that if any of 51 committee members vote against the bill, they should be labeled as having carnal relations with chickens on their respective Wikipedia pages.

These shows are capable of going from the most immature content to reaching incredible depths of sophistication. In October of 2013, Jon Stewart interviewed a young Pakistani girl by the name of Malala Yousafzai that left Stewart and many of his viewers, including myself, breathless. Malala had just published her memoir of her life in the Taliban occupied region of Pakistan, Swat. In the interview, she left with a quote that has had a profound impact on how I view the world: “You must not treat others that much with cruelty and that much harshly. You must fight others but through peace and through dialog and through education." A year later, Malala would become the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.

With the ability to bring humor to serious matters and then taking the matters seriously themselves, I believe these shows are vital to how we as Americans hear the news. These shows, and all news, should not be an effort to bash a political party, but should be a tool used to give people all of the information, letting them decide for themselves what to believe. The political satire that these types of programs provide should be an integral part of any democracy, because if we cannot make fun of ourselves and then better ourselves, then we cannot grow as a society.