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Mary McNamara at the LA Times sums up what’s bugging me about the late-night hosts coming back to work:
Leno, O’Brien and Stewart have made points of publicly supporting the strike, in which they participated for two months, and yet there they all are, crossing picket lines and writing for television and, presumably, getting paid for it…
While Stewart and Colbert didn’t cop to writing their stuff, clearly they were not improvising — it’s hard to argue you are working without a script when you have film clips and visual aids cued up. Both hosts made direct references to this contradiction. At the end of his show, Stewart “checked in” with Colbert only to catch him sporting a hilarious, Hasidic-like beard and shredding documents. “Is that a script, Stephen?” Stewart asked in mock severity. “No, no,” said Colbert. “Don’t you see my strike beard? But I am very alarmed by how prepared you were, and I will be making a call…”
How long jokes by writers about writers will remain amusing remains to be seen, though I think we’re talking hours rather than days. And the self-mocking tone of the quip only emphasizes the underlying problems — yes, Stewart and Colbert are performers, but they are also writers. Writers clearly writing during a writers strike.
Don’t these guys have any money saved up? Are they worried about not being able to find another job? I’ll admit I’m a little confused by all the behind-the-scenes wrangling, and it’s got to be a frustrating, no-win situation for them. But they really missed an opportunity to stand with their fellow writers. Despite all their lip service, they caved.
In Stewart’s case in particular, it’s disappointing. His whole first show back was all about how unfair it is that he can’t get the same deal as Letterman. Except Letterman owns The Late Show, which is why he was able to work out a deal, while The Daily Show is owned by Viacom, which isn’t negotiating with the WGA. Stewart has to know this. So why did he break the strike and violate his union’s rules to spend a half-hour complaining about breaking the strike and violating his union’s rules?
Alright, alright… 22 minutes.
It’s important to keep in mind that the writers are not the only people working on The Daily Show. If Stewart refused to bring the show back many people would have lost their jobs. I don’t know whether he was right in coming back on air, but I can certainly understand why he did.
I get the impression they didn’t have a lot of choice in coming back. You can’t forget that while these are writers, they are also contracted as on-air talent. To not come back in the latter capacity could be seen as a breach of contract and have legal ramifications, I imagine.
And where does the line appear when it comes to writing? If you have a general structure planned for a show, but no words, and then riff most of the words in real time but are good at it…is it writing? If you maybe plan ahead a little in your head what to say, but never put it on paper and into a script…is it writing, or is it just being a damn good comedian with an improv background? (Colbert definitely has a lot of improv experience, I don’t know about Stewart.)
I think if they were expected to not even think ahead, it’s getting a bit ridiculous. They shouldn’t have to be willfully unfunny in one of their jobs just to satisfy a strike in their other job. Think of a freestyle dancer. They may have a repertoire of moves, and think before they start about what order they may throw them in, or where on the floor they may travel to do so…but it’s a far cry from a choreographed routine. But it still may be damn good.
“To not come back in the latter capacity could be seen as a breach of contract and have legal ramifications, I imagine.”
And?
And I for one would not like to see people punished for being between a rock and a hard place like that. I would not like to see someone lose both of their jobs, essentially, for following the rules of only one of those jobs.
I support the writers’ goals. But I also have a lot of sympathy for those who have feet in multiple realms and are trying to navigate the waters, to woefully mix metaphors. Sympathy enough not to label them as deceivers for adapting well.
Look at their audience. If Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert got sued by Viacom for refusing to break the strike — for standing up to The Man, man! — they would become like unto gods.
Hey everyone,
The way (I’m pretty sure) it works is Stewart and Colbert can write for themselves and only themselves. It’s much like the situation Jay Leno was recently in. Initially the WGA chided him for writing a monologue, but whoops, it turns out that’s allowed. “‘A’ Daily Show” and “The ColberT ReporT” are essentially twenty minute monologues.