Jay Leno May Have Broken Strike Rules

Jay Leno, America’s top-rated television comic, has got himself into deep trouble by telling his own jokes.

The host of The Tonight Show on NBC returned to the airwaves without his 19 writing staff after a forced two-month absence because of the Hollywood writers’ strike.

The former stand-up comedian wrote all the material for the show himself –
including the customary opening monologue of topical jokes.

“I am doing what I did the day I started,” he said. “I write jokes and then I
wake up my wife in the middle of the night and say, ‘Honey, is this funny?’
So if this monologue does not work, it’s my wife’s fault.”

His candour provoked controversy as Hollywood insiders accused him of
violating the strike rules. Leno, a member of the Writers Guild of America
(WGA), has supported the stoppage, which was called to demand a greater
share of revenues from DVDs and digital downloads of writers’ work.

Before Christmas he delivered coffee and doughnuts to pickets outside NBC’s
studio in Burbank, California. On Wednesday’s show he said: “The writers are
right. I am a writer. I am on the side of the writers.” He caused
consternation by prewriting his jokes, apparently in violation of WGA
regulations. The union says that members are barred from writing any
material that would normally be written by striking writers.

Within hours Patric Verrone, the WGA President, told KPCC radio that the union
would have to “talk to Jay”. The union issued a statement last night saying:
“A discussion took place today between Jay Leno and the Writers Guild to
clarify to him that writing for The Tonight Show constitutes a
violation of the guilds’ strike rules.”