I think the death of Art's wife clearly threw him for a loop--understandably given the quality of their relationship--at least the closeness.
But, I think Noorey (sp?) does a tolerable job and besides, the guests are interesting at least half the time.
I haven't quite figured out why the puppet masters tolerate it unless it's to avoid confirming too much by obviously doing the show in. And, they probably get plenty of their disinformation out by that route, too.