Jay Leno delivers his punchline: I'm a dead man without writers

   
Burbank

Jay Leno pulled up to NBC's West Coast headquarters on Bob Hope Drive atop his Harley, wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans. He took off his helmet and delivered three boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. "This is writers' food. See the bodies of these people. They don't get that way eating tofu," he said.

Leno milled about with the 50 or so writers carrying picket signs. "We're not on tonight," he told the picketers of his show. "I don't know what were going to do. I don't know how long it is going to last. We will see what happens."

When NBC's funnyman was surrounded by reporters, he said that he was backing the writers.

"I've been working with these people for 20 years. Without them I'm not funny. I'm a dead man without them. There a lot of misconceptions about how much these people make. Most of them are not  highly paid. Some are, but the average make about 30 grand a year. I'm out here to support the writers. I'm on the writers' side."

More news on the strike

--Meg James

Comments

[Dr. O]

Isn't it interesitng that Mr. Leno makes millions by parroting the words of others, but apparently has no creativity or ability of his own. It seems the wrong persons are on camera...

[Mark Jeffries]

You try coming up with 10 minutes of good material every night by yourself. Why don't you ask David Letterman about the last strike?

Leno wrote his own standup routines before the "Tonight Show," but there's a difference between a routine you do on the road that you change bits and pieces of over time and having to do a big swath of new material every night. That's why you need writers, whether or not you like the guy or not.

[Dave]

Jay Leno is my new hero.

Thanks for the support, dude.