Joking aside for Tony Blair on Daily Show

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the likes of Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Pervez Musharraf when he appeared on the American 'fake news' programme The Daily Show on Thursday night.

However, viewers expecting another comedic performance similar to Blair's well-received sketch with Catherine Tate for Comic Relief 2007 would have been sorely disappointed. The host, Jon Stewart, opted to keep their on-air discussion serious and any jokes that were made were cracked by him, not Blair.

Stewart, recently voted 'The most trusted man in the media' by the New York Times, is known for biting political and social satire, but the edge to his questions was conspicuously absent on Thursday. (Continued below)

Many expected him to give Blair a hard time over his close relationship with George Bush, but instead Stewart simply asked what the former PM thought of the President (Blair: "I like him").

He did manage to make his interviewee admit that he "would have been shocked" had he known the extent of the carnage caused by the Iraq War - but Stewart chose not to press Blair any further than that.

Blair had motives for appearing on The Daily Show. He took the opportunity to plug the 'faith and globalisation' course on which he begins as a lecturer at Yale University on Friday.

Referring to the current financial climate, Stewart told Blair that he'd "picked the perfect time to come work in America... May I ask you this, sir: Did you get your money up front?" Blair said that he had, but didn't mention how much he was being paid - something Yale has declined to make public.