Is Jay a Scab
By LauraBelle on Jan 4, 2008 in Commentary
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
This thing just doesn’t end.
While all the late night talk show hosts made their triumphant return to television some with writers, some without, all did it in slightly different fashion. David Letterman and Craig Ferguson are the only hosts that have the benefit of their writers, as Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, worked out an agreement with the Writers Guild. This means the other hosts, who are all in the Writers Guild as well, shouldn’t be crossing the picket line to do their own writing.
Yet, Jay Leno is defiantly writing his own jokes and preparing a monologue. The Writers Guild asked him, probably not so nicely, after Wednesday night to please not do that again, as he was breaking his agreement with the Guild. By Thursday night, he was still telling jokes, though, in a prepared monologue. He’d said the night before that for him it was just like old times, writing and preparing his own material.
I’m just not altogether sure how to feel about this matter. I mean, I understand the plight of my fellow writers. I really, really do. It is quite unfair for them to continually get the short end of the stick when it comes to proceeds, as you can’t do anything without the writers and that’s what they’re trying to prove on strike. It’s like they’re saying if you think the writers are so inconsequential, try doing your show completely without, and you’ll find out how much you need us. And in that case, Leno definitely isn’t doing without, as he’s still performing with the benefit of written jokes, via a monologue.
Yet, this is who Leno is. He is a funny guy. He didn’t become a comedian, actor, and later talk show host because he wasn’t one to walk around and tell jokes. I have to ask what the difference is between him doing a monologue that he has written and Conan O’Brien showing pre-filmed bits of him playing the guitar and singing Beastie Boy songs like Edith Bunker.They’re both creative material and at some point written. What is it about a monologue that makes it so bad, because it’s usually written by a team of writers? Aren’t the pre-filmed bits written by writers usually as well? Why are they allowed by the Writers Guild?
As a fellow writer, I have to say it would be hard not to come up with creative content. I write reviews. It would be hard for me to go see a movie or watch a TV show and not write a review in my head. Even if someone told me you can’t write any reviews, I wouldn’t be able to stop doing it in my head. If I was on a television program and I was told to talk about movies I saw but not review them, I would be writing a review in my head to tell. How could I talk about them and not do that? Writing reviews is who I am, and I suspect writing jokes is who Jay is. Like he said, it’s the same thing he was doing years ago. Why is that wrong?
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