Many people believe the writers’ strike affects mostly the viewers, but after a series of unfortunate and strangely humorous events on late night television, it apparently affects the hosts as well.

The feud between Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart over Mike Huckabee’s success in his run for presidential candidacy has been central in all of the hosts’ programs. Of course, I use the term “feud” lightly as it’s obvious that they are, as Jon Stewart said, “wasting time on all three of our shows.”

It began with Colbert claiming that he made Huckabee because he was on “The Colbert Report” several times. O’Brien refuted this claim, saying that he played “Walker, Texas Ranger” clips on his show, which starred Chuck Norris and who is also the most prominent “celebrity” (I use this term loosely as well) endorser of Huckabee. O’Brien said he made Norris who in turn made Huckabee, so by logic only conceivable to stoners, O’Brien made Huckabee (they really need writers … badly).

Colbert had an “angry” response on his show threatening to kick O’Brien’s “translucent white ass.” O’Brien responded, “My ass is not translucent. It’s white with streaks of pink.” He also made another startling claim, saying he made Colbert when he was on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

This is where Stewart comes into the picture. He went on Colbert’s show and provided a VHS tape (come on, seriously?) of Stewart introducing O’Brien on his old show on MTV years ago. Stewart recapped: “Colbert made Huckabee. Conan made Colbert. Jon Stewart made Conan. Jon Stewart made Huckabee!” (Quotation mark usage overload!) This resulted in Conan showing a Photoshopped picture of Stewart’s and Colbert’s faces crudely pasted on the bodies of two babies and Conan holding them in the ER room (they even showed the private areas … disturbingly).

The finale was an all-out brawl on O’Brien’s show, which was a mix of “West Side Story” and “The Three Stooges.” Different weapons were used, among them a baseball bat, a fire extinguisher, a recycling bin and even a blowtorch; the fight was comical to say the least. The kicks, punches and stomping while wearing ice skates were so ridiculously fake, you couldn’t help but laugh. There was a short intermission of weird movement some may call “dancing,” but it seemed more like “monkeys trying to get rid of fleas while wearing suits.” (The writer of this article is now on strike.) It finally ended with all three knocking each other out simultaneously and a video message from Mike Huckabee saying, “Vote for me. God bless America … and forget these three idiots.”

This cross-network collaboration was the result of all three shows losing viewers due to the writers’ strike. Although it was somewhat entertaining, it was clear that the laughs were primarily from nonsensical statements and physical humor reminiscent of Jim Carrey. As I was watching Conan being thrown down the stairs by Colbert and Stewart, I began to miss the witty banter and political ridicule I have grown to love. Granted it’s not every day that you see two cable show hosts and one network host duke it out late at night, but it made me realize how much writers are needed in this business.

Often, we rave about how funny O’Brien, Stewart or Colbert are for the things they say, but never give credit to those truly responsible: the writers. The means which these three television hosts had to resort to gave me an understanding of the importance of writers and a greater appreciation for them.

Creativity is a hard thing to come by.