How many writers could it *possibly* take .....

[underpants]

to write

Colbert
The Daily Show
Conan
Letterman
and Bill Maher shows

this should give a (funny) good idea of the number of people involved
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGNLb0ESfVQ

for those who think that Leno or Stewart or Colbert are going to really pull a show off all by themselves

Late Night With Conan O'Brien • NBC • Conaco, Broadway Video, in association with NBC Universal Television Studio
Mike Sweeney, Head Writer
Chris Albers, Writer
Jose Arroyo, Writer
Dan Cronin, Writer
Kevin Dorff, Writer
Daniel J. Goor, Writer
Michael Gordon, Writer
Berkley Johnson, Writer
Brian Kiley, Writer
Michael Koman, Writer
Tim Harrod, Writer
Brian McCann, Writer
Guy Nicolucci, Writer
Conan O'Brien, Writer
Brian Stack, Writer
Andrew Weinberg, Writer
Late Show With David Letterman • CBS • Worldwide Pants, Inc.
Eric Stangel, Head Writer
Justin Stangel, Head Writer
Michael Barrie, Writer
Jim Mulholland, Writer
Steve Young, Writer
Tom Ruprecht, Writer
Lee Ellenberg, Writer
Matt Roberts, Writer
Jeremy Weiner, Writer
Joe Grossman, Writer
Meredith Scardino, Writer
Bill Scheft, Writer
Aaron Blitzstein, Writer
Bob Borden, Writer
Frank Sebastiano, Writer
David Letterman, Writer
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO • Kid Love Productions and Brad Grey Television in association with HBO Entertainment
David Feldman, Writer
Matt Gunn, Writer
Brian Jacobsmeyer, Writer
Jay Jaroch, Writer
Chris Kelly, Writer
Bill Maher, Writer
Billy Martin, Head Writer
Jonathan Schmock, Writer
Danny Vermont, Writer
Scott Carter, Writer
The Colbert Report • Comedy Central • Central Productions LLC and Hello Doggie, Inc. with Busboy Productions and Spartina Productions
Stephen Colbert, Writer
Allison Silverman, Writer
Richard Dahm, Writer
Michael Brumm, Writer
Rob Dubbin, Writer
Eric Drysdale, Writer
Peter Gwinn, Writer
Jay Katsir, Writer
Laura Krafft, Writer
Frank Lesser, Writer
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central • Central Productions LLC and Hello Doggie, Inc.
Steve Bodow, Head Writer
Rachel Axler, Writer
Kevin Bleyer, Writer
Rich Blomquist, Writer
Tim Carvell, Writer
J.R. Havlan, Writer
Scott Jacobson, Writer
David Javerbaum, Writer
Ben Karlin, Writer
Rob Kutner, Writer
Josh Lieb, Writer
Sam Means, Writer
Jason Reich, Writer
Jason Ross, Writer
Jon Stewart, Writer
http://www.emmys.tv/awards/2007pt/nominations_pt.php?action=search_db

[DCKit]

1. So much for the rural myth that all writers in Hollywood are Jewish

But seriously, with all the material this administration has provided for free, each of these shows is going to have to triple their staffs when a Democrat is elected.