Corn Cob Bob made a triumphant return to Parliament Hill today, months after the ethanol fuel industry mascot was told he wasn't welcome.

The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association's corn cob mascot had been scheduled to take part in Canada Day activities in Ottawa. But he was banished when the festivities' main sponsor, Shell Canada, made it clear they weren't entirely comfortable with their unusual guest.

The company told the National Capital Commission, and just two days before the scheduled celebrations, Corn Cob Bob's invitation was revoked.

According to the CRFA's Kory Teneycke, the ban made no sense at all.

"Who in their right mind would ever ban a six foot tall smiling cob of corn? It just seems a little counter-intuitive," he told CTV News.

Having paid for exclusive advertising rights at the Canada Day event, Shell Canada said its decision was based on the fact Corn Cob Bob represents an industry association of producers who make ethanol from corn.

Some of that group's members, Shell said, are direct competitors at the pumps. Because Shell invests in an ethanol producer that derives its fuel from straw, the company said having Corn Cob Bob at the July 1st festivities would be wrong.

Looking back on events that led to his cob-non-grata, Teneycke says he can now see the bright side.

"It's a bit flattering that they would feel we're that strong of a competition at this point."

And, as it turned out, Corn Cob's misfortune wound up working to his advantage.

The towering farmer with a head of corn went on to star in a report on the wildly popular comedy series, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

In his tongue-in-cheek report, Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry probes the attitudes and circumstances that led to Corn Cob's banishment, before leading the mascot to a promised happy place deep in the woods.

"This world was never going to treat Corn Cob Bob fairly," Corddry opined after staging a mock execution of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association mascot. "I wanted to show him a better place."