Letterman Lands Robin Williams as First Post-Strike Guest

Authored by Scott Goldberg on January 2, 2008 - 1:12am.

When David Letterman’s The Late Show returns to regular programming tonight with its writers in tow, the first guest in the post-strike era will be Robin Williams. Industry observers had questioned the caliber of guests that talk shows would receive, and it was believed that Donald Trump would be Letterman’s first guest. But the Screen Actors Guild said it supported the appearance of its members on shows like Letterman’s after the Writers Guild of America approved of the strike stoppage for Worldwide Pants writers, the production company for The Late Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show also returns tonight with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee as the first guest.

Conan O’Brien of Late Night and Jimmy Kimmel of Jimmy Kimmel Live, both ABC shows, have not announced their guests for tonight.

The New York Times quoted a representative of Letterman’s and Ferguson’s shows as saying that although Worldwide Pants will have the benefit of professionally written humor, the shows returning without its writers stand to draw more viewer interest. “At least at first it will probably be more interesting for people to check out the potential train wrecks,” the representative said.