Late night talk show fans may have a sense of deja vu when they tune into The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, May 2, watching Fallon deliver some out-of-date jokes and seeing him talk with Matt Damon about his movie AIR. Why is The Tonight Show airing a rerun after it had a new episode on May 1?
As many of you may have heard, as of May 2, the Writer's Guild of America and its members have begun a strike following failed contract negotiations. If you're interested in what the strike is about, check out this news story, but what it means in the broader sense is that writing for many TV shows and movies are going to stop until a new deal is reached.
There is not going to be an immediate impact on many TV shows currently on air and set to premiere soon, but this news is impacting late night talk shows like The Tonight Show already, which rely on writers to provide jokes every day based on what's going on in the news.
So, instead of having The Masked Singer's Ken Jeong and internet personality Emma Chamberlain sitting down to talk with Fallon on May 2, The Tonight Show is going to have a rerun. That is the plan for the rest of the week on The Tonight Show as well, as NBC has released the following schedule of guests:
- May 2: Matt Damon, Cecily Strong and musical guest Rema (original air date April 5, 2023)
- May 3: Leslie Jones, Giancarlo Espotio and musical guest Alvvays (original air date January 10, 2023)
- May 4: Michelle Williams, John Stamos, Mo Willems and musical guest CHVRCHES (original air date April 3, 2023)
- May 5: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Vargas and musical guest Maisie Peters (original air date March 31, 2023)
NBC notes that these are subject to change.
Other late night shows are also going on hiatus. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live is going to air reruns as well starting May 2. That show's lineup of guests for the rest of the week includes:
- May 2: Patrick Stewart, Bridget Everett and musical guest Gorillaz featuring Beck (original air date April 19, 2023)
- May 3: Quinta Brunson and musical guest Metallica (original air date April 12, 2023)
- May 4: Luke Bryan, Jeff Hiller and musical guest GloRilla (original air date April 18, 2023)
- May 5: Carol Burnett, Wendi McLendon-Covey and musical guest Metallica (original air date April 11)
As of publication, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has not provided any official announcement that it won't be airing new episodes, but that is expected as well, according to multiple reports. It is also expected that shows like Real Time with Bill Maher, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and possibly Saturday Night Live are not going to air new episodes during the writers' strike. As of right now, the only late night talk show that is going to continue airing new episodes is Fox News' Guttfield!
All of this is fluid, with no one sure how long these shows are going to be on hiatus. The last writers' strike was in 2007 and lasted for 100 days. Most talk shows went off the air for a time before coming back on without writers. As we wait to see what happens, let's take a look back at a memorable moment from talk shows without writers from Conan O'Brien.
The last time the WGA went on strike, Conan O'Brien did this. Pay writers. pic.twitter.com/jGakskSVLKMay 2, 2023
