ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
The writers are on strike figuring that only blockheads would contribute to DVDs and the Internet without compensation. And they're complaining about some of the people who are back on television, cracking jokes that are presumably written.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOW "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
JAY LENO: Here I'm doing - I'm doing what I did the day I started. I write jokes and I wake my wife up. And then I go, honey is this funny?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
LENO: So if this monologue doesn't work, it's my wife's fault, okay, because she said the jokes were funny.
SIEGEL: That was from Jay Leno's return last week. Last night, Jon Stewart was back on "The Daily Show."
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOW "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")
JON STEWART: So there you have it. Iowa has spoken. Cold, white people have had their say. Tomorrow night is New Hampshire where colder, whiter people will have their say. And if all goes right, Obama and Huckabee will soon be the presidents of Scandinavia.
SIEGEL: Joining us now is John Bowman who is chair of the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee. And John Bowman, are Jon Stewart and Jay Leno skirting the line of what the union, your union, regards as permissible joke- writing right now?
JOHN BOWMAN: Well, the law that we have about permissible joke-writing is that if you are a Writers Guild of America member, you cannot do any writing for a struck show. Both Jay's show and Jon's show are struck shows. So unless they made those jokes up in the moment, which they may well have, then they are skirting the issue a bit.
SIEGEL: But NBC says that there's an exception if you're writing jokes for yourself, that that doesn't count.
BOWMAN: Well, if you're writing jokes for yourself and you're not a WGA member, that's true.
SIEGEL: Now, Jon Stewart told a joke about the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. I haven't gone back to do an extensive title search of this joke, but it's possible that similar jokes about whiteness and weather(ph) were made in previous primary seasons. If he's telling a joke that we can find some reasonable ancestry for, is that strike-breaking?
BOWMAN: I think every joke has an ancestor. I haven't seen a new one under the sun. So they are both in a very difficult position. If you are a WGA member, you are not supposed to be telling prepared material, period. Now, the question is - we'll go through each one internally and see what we think they have and haven't done. But you know, we'd obviously prefer not to prosecute them, but we will issue them some warnings.
SIEGEL: But non-prepared material - I mean, we'd have to assume that somebody who is a creative comedian, like Leno or Jon Stewart, is walking around half the time mentally preparing jokes.
BOWMAN: Exactly. You've just said exactly how difficult it would be to try to actually (unintelligible) them up for any committee. And that's the last thing that we want to do. We're not the Committee for Public Safety. We're a guild that is on strike against very powerful companies. We're not interested, really, in prosecuting our own members, but we do want our members to abide by our guidelines. It's the only way that we can bring the strike to an end.
SIEGEL: But you're not going to go knee-capping people who've come up with jokes and e-mail them to someone else?
BOWMAN: We're not, no.
SIEGEL: NBC says according to the minimum bargaining agreement, that some programs are excepted, have an exception, if they're not in primetime, and that Leno can write for himself and prepare for himself because it's not a primetime show.
BOWMAN: Right. Well, anybody - if you're not a WGA member, you can do that. Like Johnny Carson, for instance, wasn't a WGA member even though he was a great joke writer. He could go back on and do a monologue that he wrote. And that wasn't a problem.
SIEGEL: Okay. This strike has been going on for a long time.
BOWMAN: Yes, it has.
SIEGEL: Are you beginning to worry whether there might be audiences just lost to some of the programs that are being struck if you don't get some fresh material on pretty soon?
BOWMAN: Oh, no, I completely agree that's a possibility. And I think it's a terrible situation to be in. And I hope the networks that employ us are as concerned about it as we are. But they walked away from the bargaining table, we didn't. And this can't get resolved until they come back to the bargaining table.
SIEGEL: Well, John Bowman, thank you very much for talking with us today.
BOWMAN: Thank you, Robert.
SIEGEL: John Bowman, chair of the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee. He spoke to us from Los Angeles.