News > Jay Leno Ponies Up for his Staff Too
December 3, 2007
Written by David Morgan
After last week's announcement that Conan O'Brien would personally pay the salaries of his 75 non-writing staff members, there was some criticism directed at Jay Leno who had not made similar assurances to his own staff. Initially Leno had offered to give them their standard Christmas bonuses earlier than usual, but this did little to ease the tension. Now, according to , The Tonight Show host has promised to pay his crew on a week to week basis starting this week.
NBC had informed the crewmembers of The Tonight Show and Late Night last Friday that their services were no longer required as no shows were being produced during the WGA strike. In an effort to protect the livelihoods of his own staff, Last Call's Carson Daly agreed to return to production, leading to a certain amount of derision from WGA members and supporters. One difference between Daly and the two men who precede him on the late night schedule is that Daly is not a WGA member.
Leno remains optimistic that the strike will be over in short order, though many insiders fear otherwise.
