James Hibberd

“Last Call” host Carson Daly leaping back to work at NBC during a writers strike has prompted the predictable scolding from the Writers Guild of America. The Smoking Gun’s revelation that he set up a scab-friendly joke hotline to help fill the show made the host himself a punchline.

Bloggers have been pretty merciless: “At least his writers weren’t funny” … “I've seen chimps with better TV charisma and good looks and interviewing skills” … “Back in his ‘TRL’ days, Carson Daly proved he was good at sucking up to celebrities. Turns out, he’s good at sucking up to executives, too” … “NBC has a late-night program hosted by Carson Daly?" … “Carson Daly is as lame as you imagined” … “When Jimmy Kimmel has more integrity than you do, maybe you need to hang it up.”

Thing is, Daly isn’t a WGA member. The man could make the argument that this is an altruistic move to keep the non-striking members of his crew employed, even though it’s tough to buy it. The joke hotline sounds like a standard late-night gag, and one can assume such a device would serve only to illustrate on air how important writers are to the show. Then again, considering the lack of public affection for “Last Call,” perhaps not.