Writers Strike Leads to Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert Pausing Late Night Shows

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Major late-night talk shows will temporarily cease airing after the Writers Guild of America announced its first strike since 2008 on Monday.

According to Deadline, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live with Jimmy Kimmel, NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show — which has yet to replace Trevor Noah since his departure from the show in December 2022 — will all reportedly be impacted and are expected to air old episodes until the strike is resolved.

HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and NBC’s Saturday Night Live are also expected to pause live shows due to the strike.

As the strike is set to begin on Tuesday, it will impact shows from Tuesday evening onwards. Appearances from dozens of celebrities this week, including Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox on Colbert’s The Late Show and actress Jennifer Lopez on Fallon’s The Tonight Show, will be cancelled or postponed, as will musical performances from the Pixies and the Smashing Pumpkins on Kimmel’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.

On Monday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers expressed support for the writers on strike, arguing that their demands were reasonable.

“As of Monday at midnight, there might be a writers strike and if a writers strike happens, that would shut down production on a great many shows,” warned Meyers, who called the last strike more over 15 years ago “really miserable.”

“It doesn’t just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows and it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that awful pandemic that affected obviously not just show business but all of us,” he said.

Meyers said that while he was “incredibly hopeful” that the parties could reach an agreement to prevent a strike, he also felt “very strongly that what the writers are asking for is not unreasonable.”

“And as a proud member of the guild, I’m very grateful that there’s an organization that looks out for the best interests of writers,” he said, before concluding, “So if you don’t see me here next week, know that it is something that is not done lightly and that I will be heartbroken to miss you as well.”

While the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) claimed to have offered “generous increases in compensation for writers” on behalf of Disney, Netflix, Amazon, NBCUniversal, and other major companies, the Writers Guild of America East and West announced on Monday that they had “voted unanimously to call a strike” from 12:01am on Tuesday.

In a statement, the guild claimed AMPTP’s offers had been “insufficient” and announced that picket protests would begin on Tuesday afternoon.

“From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a “day rate” in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”

The last Writers Guild of America strike lasted for more than three months between November 2007 and February 2008.