The Race Is On To See Which Staff-Supporting Late Night Talk Show Host Goes Broke First
Now that all of the networks' late-night talk show stars not named Carson Daly have put themselves on the hook (even a straggling Jay Leno!) by agreeing to personally sign their laid-off staffs' paychecks during at least the next few weeks of the strike, the game of "host chicken" has begun in earnest. With their generous pledges expected to cause a weekly low-to-mid six-figure drain on their bank accounts, who'll be financially broken first and have to bring their money-train to a screeching halt?
Who'll blink and grudgingly return to work to save the jobs of their employees, even if that means taking a big PR hit and enduring untold months of coaxing stultifying anecdotes from the handful of B-listers willing to cross the picket line? The NY Times reports:
"There's obviously going to be a limit to how long the hosts can continue to pay out of their own pockets to keep their staff together," the late-night representative said.
That limit could vary greatly from host to host. Mr. Letterman is the best paid among them, making about $35 million a year. Some of the other hosts are making single-digit millions — still a lot of money, but obviously not enough to pay out hundreds of thousands a week indefinitely, especially while the hosts themselves are going without pay during the strike. Mr. Letterman announced to his staff that his company would write checks for them at least through Jan. 7; but one company representative said that did not mean that the host would not return to the air before then. [...]
A different host was wavering a bit more, largely out of concern about staff members who have no stake in the strike, everyone from segment producers to office assistants. This host, who also requested anonymity so as not to offend his writers, noted that some writers for films or prime-time television shows have been allowed to perform non-writing duties during the strike, like directing or acting, without protest from the Guild. He asked why hosts who did no writing and only did interviewing would face criticism. He also said he was unhappy with the hostility that the strike had unleashed because, like most of the hosts, he counted his writers as good friends.
While the anonymous host referenced above demanded his identity be kept secret, a comment he allowed to slip onto the record during a moment of frustration may offer a clue as to his identity: "I mean, what else do they expect me to do? I'm not crossing the lines, now I'm paying the whole staff, and I'm getting beat up? When this thing gets settled and we're all back at work, I have half a mind to fill the writers room from floor to ceiling with fucking Krispy Kremes to show them how much I appreciate their support."
