The Dry Spell Ends

Writers' Strike Left Viewers Thirsty for Topical Humor

If America woke up with a smile on its face this morning, it might be because our national late-night comedians finally returned last night, after the longest hiatus in their histories. David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, among others, did their first late-night shows in two months, having been shuttered by a writers' strike against the giant corporations that employ them.

Letterman and O'Brien both had grown impressive beards in the interim, Letterman's fuzzy and white and making him look, he told his cheering audience, "like a cattle-drive cook." Letterman's Worldwide Pants, which produces and owns his CBS late-night show, worked out its own agreement with the Writers Guild of America so that Dave and his writers could return -- and there would be no picketing of the show.

Over on NBC, Leno was back hosting "The Tonight Show," but that program is owned by NBC Universal and General Electric and is one of the corporate behemoths that the WGA has targeted for refusing to negotiate. Leno delivered a shorter than usual monologue, which included a friendly reference to Letterman; he joked that, having returned without writers, he stood alone against the giant CBS empire.

Letterman appeared after a taped introduction by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who noted of Dave's eight-week absence from the airwaves, "Oh, well. All good things come to an end." Leno's big guest was Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who rushed away from campaigning before today's Iowa caucuses to be allegedly funny on the Leno show and make a big national impression.

This precedent was set many years ago when Bill Clinton joked around and played the saxophone on the since-departed "Arsenio Hall Show."

Huckabee wasn't particularly funny, but did come off as a fairly affable guy-next-door.

Both late-night stars took a moment to address the strike in serious terms. Leno said he came back on the air because, although he supports writers ("the writers are correct, by the way"), the 19 on his show were effectively putting 160 other employees out of work.

Letterman took a moment to thank the WGA "for allowing our show and our writers to come back with a contractual agreement." More typical of the Letterman show was the Top 10 List -- "Top 10 Demands of Striking Writers" -- delivered by, who else, striking writers. Among those participating on the Letterman stage: Nora Ephron, a hugely successful screenwriter whose hits include "Sleepless in Seattle."

The No. 1 demand was delivered by Alan Zweibel, who started out writing for "Saturday Night Live" and now contributes to HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with his friend Larry David. Only part of the demand can be printed in a family newspaper: "Producers must immediately remove their heads from their" etc.

O'Brien, like Leno, returned writerless while Craig Ferguson, whose "Late Show" follows Letterman on CBS and is owned by Letterman's company, was back with its staff of writers intact.

For America, all this was a welcome burst of good news.

We may all from time to time mutter the famous American mantra "There's nothing on TV," but during the two-month absence of the late-night shows, that seemed literally, horribly true. In part, it's because the late-night shows are, unlike prime-time programming, taped the day they air and are responsive to current events. In their monologues, comics score ripe topical zingers off buffoons in the news.