Gawker
Perhaps wounded that some disgruntled, newly laid-off Tonight Show staffers anonymously griped that their early-bonus-proferring boss had failed to equal the generosity of peers like eventual successor Conan O'Brien, who'd previously pledged to financially support every last self-abusing bear and incontinent, bolt-excreting robot on his payroll during the writers strike, host Jay Leno has decided to join the compassionate ranks of late night TV saviors by covering his employees' salaries on a week-to-week basis. Christmas is saved!
(At least until the idling staff rereads the threateningly vague layoff memo from the network saying, "If your services are needed, we'll contact you.") Meanwhile, TMZ reports that Jimmy Kimmel has been "quietly" paying low-level workers adversely affected by the strike, leaving picket-line-crossing Last Call host Carson Daly, who returns to the air tonight without his writers (but with some great material from his non-union inbox), as the late shift's only potential punching bag.
