Late-Night Salaries

Because of the strike by both the Writers Guild East and the Writers Guild West, talk-show hosts like Jay Leno don't do much these days. Because their shows are now screening only reruns, the TV companies aren't paying the staff members for the late-night shows. In order to keep their staffs around until production starts again, four of the hosts are paying their staff members out of their own pockets. Estimates of how much they're paying go as high as $250,000 per week. Both Jay Leno and David Letterman are paying their staff members.

All this raises a question. If these guys can pay their staff members $250,000 a week, exactly how much do the hosts make? The editorial staff at New Moon did a little research, and we found out that David Letterman is the highest-paid talk-show host. He makes $35 million a year.

$35 million? David Letterman isn't worth $35 hundred. Prolong the strike, writers. Maybe Letterman will give up and go away.