Comedy Central has research that says you do — or at least some committed fans of those shows are convinced that you do. A little over 20 percent of hard-core fans of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert said in a “multi-engagement study” conducted by Harris Interactive Research that “people think I’m cool because I watch” those two programs.

And, the same survey says, viewers who identify themselves as fans of other late-night hosts — viewers who don’t even watch the Comedy Central shows — are pretty darn impressed too. Among the terms fans of people like Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien used to describe viewers of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert were “enthusiastic,” “friendly,” “fun,” “more informed, “more intelligent,” “trustworthy,” “warm,” and “witty.”