NBC Throws Pink Slip Parade For Returning Carson Daly Writers

Who could forget that disconsolate look on Carson Daly's face when we caught up with him at CES in Las Vegas, lamenting the absence of the beloved staff of gag writers that make each and every episode of Total Late Night Live a journey worth taking (if you can't afford cable, and CBS comes in really fuzzy regardless of where you point your bunny ears). But news of the strike's resolution isn't likely to do much to raise the spirits of the crestfallen talk show host, as the network has celebrated their return with a hearty round of axings. Deadline Hollywood Daily reports:

Defamer Exclusive: Carson Daly Admits That Life Without His Writers Is Just As Unhappy As You'd Expect

While on the ground in Vegas with the Gizmodo crew at the 2008 CES, in-house, camcorder-brandishing Gawker Media troublemaker Richard Blakeley unexpectedly found himself face-to-face with embattled™ Last Call host Carson Daly, the late-night canary NBC sent down its talk-show coal mine long before it dared to force his better-leveraged peers Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien back in front of the cameras.

'Last Call With Carson Daly' Now Televised Version of Bored and Depressed Roommates Wasting Their Best Years

You've no doubt noticed that Carson Daly's been demonstrably less gut-bustingly hilarious these past few weeks sans pro writers —the bon mots his niece texts him from math class usually fall flat—but the show hit a new low last night when the material-starved talking head, openly looking to kill a few minutes, held a "talent" show featuring members of his put-upon staff. Listen to the tone of voice of everyone in this thing. Heaven's Gate members were peppier.

Striking Writers Disrupt Carson Daly Taping, Ruining His Talk Show Christmas

Having survived a public buggering following the announcement that he'd be the first late-night talkshow host to cross the WGA picket line and the subsequent publication of his hilariously misguided e-mail plea for gag-writing help from non-union friends and family, an embattled™ Carson Daly had to know that more sanity-fraying good times were in store for him once he returned to produce new episodes of Last Call without his writing staff. On Tuesday night, a team of striking writers infiltrated Daly's studio audience (an action not sanctioned by the Guild, we're told), briefly ruining his penetrating interrogation of Dancing with Stars also-ran Jerry Rice before security restored order to the Last Call world. A tipster forwarded this firsthand account of last night's shenanigans (there's also an amusing, if headache-inducing, cell-phone recording of the disruption, which we hope to share shortly):

Embattled Carson Daly Returns To The Air, Determined To Save Jobs And Entertain Loyal Insomniac Fan

Leno To Supplement Strike Gifts Of Early Holiday Bonuses And Delicious Donuts With Continuing Paychecks

Picket-Line Crossing Pioneer Carson Daly Under Fire!

Responding to Tuesday's reports that not only was Carson Daly choosing to be the first late night talk show host to cross the WGA picket line and return to work without his striking scribes, but that he'd undertaken a hilariously ill-advised e-mail campaign to organize friends and family into an ad-hoc staff of gag-writing scabs, the Guild announced late yesterday that it was tearing every last TRL-era Tiger Beat magazine cover featuring Daly's smirking image from their headquarters' walls in protest, releasing this statement of Official Disappointment:

Carson Daly Urges Friends And Family To Phone In To His Scab Joke Hotline

The Smoking Gun has obtained an e-mail circulated by picket-line-crossing late-night talk show host Carson Daly, in which he personally petitions friends, family, and co-workers to call in to a "joke hotline," on which they can contribute some pro bono comic material for him to play on the air.

Writerless Talk Show Host Carson Daly Ready To Try And Survive On Charm Alone

· A brave Carson Daly will be the first late-night talk show host to cross the picket line and attempt to return to work without a writing staff; upon his arrival at the studio, Daly will be awkwardly reminded by a security guard that his show was canceled two years ago. [THR]
· I'm Not There, expected to duke it out in every Oscar category you got with similarly ambitious music biopic Walk Hard, leads the Independent Spirit Award nominations with four. Angelina Jolie flop A Mighty Heart and Ang Lee's artsy, NC-17 fuckfest Lust, Caution received three nods each. [Variety]

A Read Along New Year's With Carson Daly

One More Angel In Ugly Dog Heaven