Letterman grew a beard during the writers strike!

[hermhater]

I have never seen him with a beard, and I don't know what to think.

Will this make him funnier?


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPln43GTNaY"]YouTube - video[/ame]

[hermhater]

I say we forget it all and watch some Girls Next Door!

(luv, if your listening, I don't want to argue with you!)

This is more entertaining than Letterman anyway!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ZJ3FRK7Mk"]YouTube - videos[/ame]

[IlovetheChiefs]

I haven't watched the late night comics much in the past several years. But I remember when I used to catch Leno regularly that he'd often include jokes busting on whatever sports team at the time was doing horribly. Like he busted on the LA Clippers and Detroit Lions before. Hopefully he didn't start on our Chiefs this year! Heh, I imagine the Miami Dolphins got all his attention, since they started out 0-14.

Good thing for the Phins. I'd hate for our guys to ever be made fun of on national tv, heh.

[hermhater]

Leno Sounds Like He Broke Strike Rules

I have a feeling this controversy not only isn't going away but will probably deepen over the next days: Jay Leno admitted last night on the air during his first show back from strike hiatus that he wrote his own monologue. That's a huge problem because it violates the strike rules of one of his unions, the Writers Guild Of America, which is currently on strike and picketing NBC and Leno's Tonight Show. Leno did deliver what was a funny monologue. So the big question is who wrote it: WGA members or scabs (i.e. the usual contingent of joke writers who hang out around Jay's kitchen table)?

Leno addressed that very issue during the monologue: "You know what I'm doing? I'm doing what I did the day I started. I write jokes and wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, 'Honey, is this funny?' So if this monologue doesn't work it's my wife's fault," he explained. "We are not using outside guys. We are following the guild thing... We can write for ourselves..."
Earth To Leno: That's not the way the WGA interprets its strike rules as spelled out here: "The Strike Rules, among other provisions, prohibit Guild members from performing any writing services during a strike for any and all struck companies. This prohibition includes all writing by any Guild member that would be performed on-air by that member (including monologues, characters, and featured appearances) if any portion of that written material is customarily written by striking writers." (See my previous: WGA Reminds Returning Jay And Conan: No Monologues.)


Now the question is what will the WGA do about it? The irony is that Leno last night sounded so proud of the jokes he claimed to have written for his monologue. Jay's in a tough spot, to be sure: after years of beating Dave week after week, Leno could fall to No. 2 now that he's doing The Tonight Show without his writing team because NBC won't bargain with the striking writers. Whereas Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants owns The Late Show (not CBS) and negotiated an interim waiver from the WGA allowing Dave to return on air with his writing team intact. Sure Leno's ratings may stay the same or even go up as audiences anticipate a potential on-air train wreck. But can they stay there? Will America's late night viewing habits change? And will NBC suffer?

What makes the situation even trickier is that Leno has been very supportive of his own picketing writers and the entire WGA since the strike began two months ago (see photo above) by delivering food and drinks to the scribes walking the line. So the WGA, which has made it clear it's picketing NBC and not Leno, may not want to make an example of a high-profile member like Jay for breaking its strike rules.







http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.co...-strike-rules/