One of the many witty signs seen along the Mall.

Whether it was 10 million as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert quipped or half a million people – as I suspect -- who made their way to the Washington Mall Saturday for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, they all had at least two things in common: a sense of humor and a willingness to connect.

As throngs of multi-colored, cradle to not-far-from-the-grave aged people shuffled their way to the staging area, which stretched as far as the eye could see from the Capitol building to the Washington Memorial and beyond, street vendors started the comedy show. Hawking their wares with come-ons of “Reinvest in the economy, buy my shirts,” or “Help solve unemployment, one person at a time,” they lined the byways.

Placards popped up everywhere on the route, things that made sense given the sanity theme of the event, and things that in their incongruity, simply spawned laughter. “I’m calmer than you, Dude,” or “Tights aren’t pants.”

A smattering of more serious signs found their way to the Mall as well. “It’s a Democracy, not an Auction” read one. But mostly no one was taking anything too seriously.

By 11 a.m.– an hour before the rally was set to start -- the area between the stage at about 3rd and 7th Street was jammed with humanity standing shoulder to shoulder and belly to butt; there was no way in further or out, short of a medical emergency.

A few people nearby were heard to start complaining, but resigned reminders that “it is what it is” quieted the grousing quickly. The advance publicity about reasonableness seemed to have worked, and no one spent any time complaining that they could not see the huge video screens, or sometimes hear very well.

At the stroke of noon, the band Roots opened the concert. And promptly at 1 p.m., the “Star Spangled Banner,” sung by a Marine who was soon joined by the crowd, marked the appearance of Stewart on the stage.

For three hours the hundreds of thousands of people who had traveled – some from many thousands of miles away to stand for something in the Mall Saturday --were treated to typical Stewart - Colbert pranks and skits, rapid-fire video clips of media fear-mongering, many more musical treats and guest appearances by real live Muslims, such as NBA Hall of Famer and author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the singer/songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Islam and rocker Ozzy Osbourne took sides between Stewart and Colbert, with Islam riding his famous “Peace Train,” and Osbourne going “off the rails on the Crazy Train.”

About 10 minutes before Tony Bennett took the stage to wind down the festivities with his a capella version of “America the Beautiful,” Stewart turned serious for a few moments. Criticizing the mainstream media and the 24-hour news cycle for its constant barrage of non-news fear-mongering, Stewart said, “We live now in hard times -- not end times.”

“The press is our immune system; if it overreacts to everything, we get sick,” Stewart cautioned.

"The country's 24-hour, political pundit, perpetual panic conflict-inator did not cause our problems. But its existence makes solving them that much harder," he said. "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing."

He pointed out that despite our vast and varied differences as people, “we work together every day to get things done.”

The only place we don’t do that he said is “here” – the nation’s capital – or “on Cable TV.”

Referring to the Lincoln Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, and using cars as a metaphor, he said, every day all these cars “one with an NRA sticker ... one with an Obama sign” cram their way into a narrow mile-long tunnel under a great river – by cooperating. “You go; then I’ll go,” Stewart said.

The throngs along the National Mall, with the Washington Monument as backdrop. (Click to enlarge)

And the system works despite the differences. “Sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute.” Stewart said. “But that individual is rare, and he is scorned.”

“Most Americans don’t live as Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives,” Stewart said. “Most Americans live their lives a little bit late for the next thing they have to do ... usually something they don’t want to do in the first place. “

As the massive, jam-packed crowd inched away from the Mall, a young man speaking from the crotch of a tree, where he had climbed to watch the show, said, “See? No exit strategy.”

Creeping along the route away from the Mall left lots of time to read more placards:
“We should do this more (not too much more) often.”

“Pakistanis for Sanity”

“I disagree with you, but I’m glad you’re not Hitler.”

And a personal favorite, “I want more tortillas when I order fajitas.”

Later in the hotel elevator, I had to ask a Canadian couple wearing stickers that said “Sanity Day 11-02-10” (Election Day) what had brought them to the rally.

“Your sanity, or lack thereof, affects us.”

Footnote: Before I had even finished this story in my hotel room at 10th and K Street, CNN, father of the 24-hour news cycle, was reporting that “thousands” of people had showed up for the rally. Correction: hundreds of thousands of people were on the Mall Saturday -- nearly all of them rational and nearly all of them laughing and full of hope and good cheer.