go throughHe Heqing, CNN
Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 1:57AM
The late-night elite are joining forces for a good cause while their show is on hold due to an ongoing writers’ strike.
Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver are teaming up to produce a new limited podcast called “Strike Force Five,” Spotify announced Tuesday.
According to Spotify’s announcement, the podcast will share “once private chats” between late-night hosts, who began meeting weekly after the WGA strike began to discuss “the complexities behind the ongoing strike in Hollywood.”
Proceeds from the podcasts will be donated to out-of-work staff members of the hosts’ respective shows—”Late Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Live with Jimmy Kimmel,” “Seth The Late Show with Meyers,” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Some of those shows have been repeated as strike talks between the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) drag on. Played for almost four months.
On the eve of the writers’ strike in early May, Colbert addressed the possibility of a strike in his opening monologue, showing pictures of all the writers and saying the show wouldn’t happen without them.
The host expressed support for the union, saying that while he wanted to avoid a strike, “I also think the writers’ request is not unreasonable”.
Commando Five goes live on Wednesday and will stream on most major podcast platforms. Spotify said the show will run for at least 12 episodes, with each host serving as a rotating host.