Bob Keane, Writer for Johnny Carson & Bob Hope, On The Picket Line
Explore, November 6, 2007
This is Bob Keane, one of many
hundreds of striking members of
the Writer's Guild who walked
the picket line today at NBC
in Burbank.
I took his photo, which he
kindly posed for as the
sun set in the Burbank sky. Then
a young writer told me who he
is. Bob Keane - he wrote for
Johnny Carson and
the Tonight Show
for decades - started there
in 1962. Also wrote for all
the Bob Hope TV specials.
I had the
privilege of seeing Johnny do
the show live right here on this
lot on two occasions - and now
the news NBC has sold this
lot and building a new one. Told
Bob that we (speaking for
all of America who remembers)
miss Johnny.
"I miss him, too," he said,
with a warm smile.
And the writers are being screwed out
of residuals for all the DVD sales
that are making the
corporations billions, and all
the internet downloads of
shows - which everyone knows
is the wave of the future
which has already started-
but this is about
more than just the residuals.
This is about how much money
they need to earn to kick in for
their pensions, and for their
health insurance.
I asked some of them
if they felt this strike would
last a long time. So much of
this company town is affected-
so many friends - not only
writers, but those on the
crews of all these shows which
have to go dark during the strike.
And the writers I spoke to
said, yes, this will last a long
time - that the producers hadn't
even put an offer on the
table yet.
And I asked why the companies
don't care about the impact
of having so many major shows,
including Leno's Tonight Show,
The Letterman show,
the Daily Show, Colbert Report,
Saturday Night Live
and so many others,
stop production.
And they told me that these
corporations own so many
businesses, and their
entertainment branches are
just tiny parcels of the
whole package. And
so they're in no rush.
Leno generously showed up
here yesterday - he did have the
day off, after all - and kindly
marched with the writers.
"Without writers, I'm nothing,"
he said. "I'm a dead man."
One good thing that does come
from this is that people realize
that all these comedy shows are
written by writers-
and without them there are no
shows. One less than
enlightened friend asked me
why Letterman doesn't just write
his own show during the strike.
That's five nights a week.
That's a lot of comedy. Dave spends
about the first half of every show
doing comedy bits. No way
he could write that himself.
Very first night of the strike
his show was in reruns.
That's what writers mean.
Bob Keane, Writer for Johnny Carson & Bob Hope, On The Picket Line
Explore, November 6, 2007
This is Bob Keane, one of many
hundreds of striking members of
the Writer's Guild who walked
the picket line today at NBC
in Burbank.
I took his photo, which he
kindly posed for as the
sun set in the Burbank sky. Then
a young writer told me who he
is. Bob Keane - he wrote for
Johnny Carson and
the Tonight Show
for decades - started there
in 1962. Also wrote for all
the Bob Hope TV specials.
I had the
privilege of seeing Johnny do
the show live right here on this
lot on two occasions - and now
the news NBC has sold this
lot and building a new one. Told
Bob that we (speaking for
all of America who remembers)
miss Johnny.
"I miss him, too," he said,
with a warm smile.
And the writers are being screwed out
of residuals for all the DVD sales
that are making the
corporations billions, and all
the internet downloads of
shows - which everyone knows
is the wave of the future
which has already started-
but this is about
more than just the residuals.
This is about how much money
they need to earn to kick in for
their pensions, and for their
health insurance.
I asked some of them
if they felt this strike would
last a long time. So much of
this company town is affected-
so many friends - not only
writers, but those on the
crews of all these shows which
have to go dark during the strike.
And the writers I spoke to
said, yes, this will last a long
time - that the producers hadn't
even put an offer on the
table yet.
And I asked why the companies
don't care about the impact
of having so many major shows,
including Leno's Tonight Show,
The Letterman show,
the Daily Show, Colbert Report,
Saturday Night Live
and so many others,
stop production.
And they told me that these
corporations own so many
businesses, and their
entertainment branches are
just tiny parcels of the
whole package. And
so they're in no rush.
Leno generously showed up
here yesterday - he did have the
day off, after all - and kindly
marched with the writers.
"Without writers, I'm nothing,"
he said. "I'm a dead man."
One good thing that does come
from this is that people realize
that all these comedy shows are
written by writers-
and without them there are no
shows. One less than
enlightened friend asked me
why Letterman doesn't just write
his own show during the strike.
That's five nights a week.
That's a lot of comedy. Dave spends
about the first half of every show
doing comedy bits. No way
he could write that himself.
Very first night of the strike
his show was in reruns.
That's what writers mean.