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Leno Crew Will Sleep Better Tonight

By LISA DE MORAES, The Washington Post

Published: December 10, 2007

WASHINGTON - Jay Leno has pulled ahead of Conan O'Brien in the race to be crowned most compassionate NBC late-night show host, officially telling the laid-off crew of "The Tonight Show" he would continue to pay their salaries through Christmas at the very least.

Leno, you may recall, fell way behind O'Brien when O'Brien announced he would pick up the tab for his staff's salaries last week. NBC pink-slipped the employees Nov. 30, citing the Hollywood writers strike that shut down production on late-night talkers immediately after it began Nov. 5. NBC owns both Leno's and O'Brien's late-night talk shows.

At the same time O'Brien was becoming a late-night hero, one of Leno's staffers went crying to TMZ.com that all he (or she) would have gotten from Leno was a lousy 100-buck Christmas bonus. A strange coincidence, we think.

At that time, Leno's rep told TMZ.com that Leno wished he could do more than the bonuses but could not because "Tonight" is not his show; he's just the host - unlike David Letterman, who actually produces his show and Craig Ferguson's over at CBS late night. (Letterman is paying those shows' staff members through the end of the calendar year even though they are not producing new programs.)

Last we heard from the O'Brien camp, he said he would decide on a week-to-week basis whether to continue to pay his show's crew.

After the embarrassing holiday-bonus backfire, Leno stepped up and matched O'Brien's week-by-week, but somehow it didn't seem enough. Particularly since Leno is reported to make about $25 million a year, compared with O'Brien's $8 million to $9 million.

But now, with news he's going to cover his laid-off staff members' salaries through Christmas, Leno has definitely taken over the lead.

Meanwhile, over at ABC, with almost no publicity, Jimmy Kimmel has been quietly paying below-the-line staffers on his late-night show, which is owned by ABC.

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