According to The Hollywood Reporter, five late-night talk show hosts have recently united to launch podcast that will benefit the staff impacted by the strikes. Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report), Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), Jimmy Kimmel (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) Seth Meyers (Late Night with Seth Meyers) and John Oliver (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) are creating Spotify podcast called Strike Force Five which will currently be composed of 12 episodes. The five hosts have decided to use this medium while their shows continue to be silenced by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The podcast will be rolling out on August 30th on Spotify and each episode will have all five hosts participating.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project was created from weekly Zoom meetings that the hosts have been having since the start of the WGA strike. With weekly virtual check-ins, the five have come together during the strike as their respective shows go dark. Compared to many old bitter rivalries in the talk show world these days many late-night hosts are very friendly with one another. There was even a time that Fallon and Kimmel switched staff members on their shows as an April Fools prank.
Down below is a Twitter post promoting the new podcast.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Strike Force Five will be supported by Ryan Reynolds’ (Deadpool 2) Mint Mobile and Diageo who will be co-representing sponsors. The series will be hosted on Spotify’s Megaphone and Spotify will also be the exclusive sales partner for the podcast. Aviation American Gin, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, Casamigos, and Ketel One Vodka are among other sponsors for the podcast.
Strike Force Five will premiere on Wednesday, August 20th on Spotify.