Late-night hosts band together for podcast benefiting out-of-work staff

Is there anything sadder than a late-night host without a show? Just making topical jokes in his kitchen, his suit traded in for a bathrobe, cringing at the light of midday? Well, the genre's biggest, Jimmiest stars have decided to stop harassing their families and make themselves useful.

Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver will all host Strike Force Five, a limited podcast series about their experiences navigating the writers' and actors' strikes.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; James White/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Jeff Lipsky/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images; David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images (2) Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver

Strike Force Five launches Aug. 30 on Spotify and will run for at least 12 weeks, with all five participating in each episode, and the hosts taking turns leading the discussion. Proceeds from the pod will go to their out-of-work late-night staff.

When the Writers Guild of America went on strike in early May, late-night shows were the first to go dark since their scripts have a very tight turnaround to ensure the hosts are able to make all those timely zingers. Colbert and co. started meeting weekly via Zoom to discuss the strike and an idea for yet another celeb podcast was born.

According to Deadline, the strikingly forceful five have regularly provided snacks and lunches to strikers on the picket lines, with many of them temporarily paying out of pocket for their staff members once the shows shut down.

While all five hosts enjoy a professional rivalry, they've also displayed a pleasant camaraderie, even as John Oliver has snatched all of their Emmy hopes over the last few years.

Back in April, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, and elder statesman David Letterman (with a cameo from The Daily Show's dearly departed Trevor Noah) participated in a farewell bit for one of their own — James Corden's final episode of The Late Late Show.

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