Stewart, Colbert to return to air in January

[951-Riverside]

Source: Los Angeles Times

NEW YORK -- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert joined their late-night comrades Thursday in announcing that they would reluctantly return to the air next month without their writers.

After a previously scheduled two-week hiatus, "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" will resume production Jan. 7, Comedy Central said in a statement released late Thursday afternoon.

"We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again," the network said.

Stewart and Colbert said they wished they could return to work with their writers.

"If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence," the comedians said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-strike21dec21,1,2576939.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter

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Whats the point of returning without writers?

[SteppingRazor]

1. Without writers, the shows will likely have a slightly different format...

much longer interview segments, at the expense of the early segments of the show where the hosts riff on the news.

[ben_meyers]

2. What's the point? Colbert and Stewart do have to eat.

If anyone thinks that they aren't in the entertainment business for the money...

[Betsy Ross]

3. I'm not real happy with this.

Crossing a picket line. I'd like to know what the union has to say about it.

[Pretty_in_CodePink]

4. It could be a great way to demonstrate the contribution that writer's make to a show

The shows that go on cannot possibly be as clever, funny or relevent. I think everyone will miss the writers.

[progressoid]

5. Hmm...that's going to be odd.

[Bolo Boffin]

6. This could play out well for the union.

Jon and Steven griping about no writers four days a week? Sounds like good publicity to me...

[crawfish]

7. Both they and their writers have to be sick...

...at the opportunities they've missed for biting humor the past few months.