NBCUniversal
The end of the actors’ strike is on everyone’s lips, and the night is no exception.
“Thank you for joining us here in Hollywood for our Take Yourself Back to Work Day,” Jimmy Kimmel said during his opening monologue. “Where most of the film and television business has been at a standstill since May.”
He continued: “The writers’ strike started in May. But the actor’s strike is finally over. Many people were affected. The Hallmark Channel immediately began filming all 1,200 of its Christmas movies this morning. A member of the negotiating committee said there were “tears of elation and joy” in the room after the deal was approved and it only took them a few takes. It was very realistic.”
Jokes aside, Kimmel concluded, “Actors can finally get back to their real jobs… which is playing people with real jobs.”
SAG-AFTRA and the studios finally reached a tentative deal Wednesday that revitalizes Hollywood after a historically long work stoppage. Judd Apatow and Sarah Silverman spoke about the 118-day effort on Thursday’s episode of The Daily Show.
Naturally, Silverman was curious about what Apatow had been doing since the writers’ strike in May.
“I was working out and eating, and then I decided to eat without working out,” joked Apatow, who was on the show for his latest film, “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain.” “I want to get Ozempic, and I want to take it and prove that it can make you gain weight.”
He added that he also spent a lot of his time listening to shows that he couldn’t catch up on. “And then I thought to myself, ‘This is all terrible.’ We don’t deserve a raise.’”
“Listen, your directors took the first thing that was thrown at you. That’s not my problem,” Silverman replied, looking at the DGA’s quick deal with the AMPTP.
Apatow joked back: “That’s all we deserve.”
Jimmy Fallon also addressed the strike in his own monologue during The Tonight Show, joking that his guest list changed to “everyone” on Friday. His monologue was then interrupted by Please Don’t Destroy stars Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy – who were on the show a few days ago but were unable to talk about their new film.
After abusing the monologue to get more than a few mentions about the film (did you know it’s coming out November 17th on Peacock?!), Fallon went back to his usual jokes.
“When the actors heard that an agreement had been reached, they gasped, screamed, laughed, cried and then said, ‘I do accents too,'” he said. “Seriously, the actors are back just in time. I’m not sure the world can handle another reality dating show.”