Strike would take the laughs out of late night

Assuming the writers strike begins as scheduled on Monday morning, don’t look for many of the late-night talk show hosts to crack wise about it. In fact, don’t look for them to do much at all. NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and Last Call with Carson Daly are planning to air reruns until further notice. (A new episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Brian Williams, will be seen this weekend, but SNL will go dark after that.) Strategies were still being worked out for CBS’ The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, as well as ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! Meanwhile, over on Comedy Central, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will be going the repeat route for now. Insomniacs just can’t catch a break.