Today's Los Angeles Times has a story about freelance comedy writers who get paid for their jokes submitted to late night comics that actually make the cut and air in a monologue. Times staffers Matea Gold and Richard Verrier report that "For some late-night hosts, the laughs come cheap."

But alas, it's actually a violation of labor contracts for late night shows to pay freelancers. What's more, with Conan O'Brien acceeding to Leno's throne in June, the practice is expected to stop altogether for NBC's "Tonight Show."

O'Brien is one of the few late-night hosts to refuse freelance jokes, and East Coast guild officials used his move to privately remind their California counterparts of the prohibition.

"Conan is one of the key players in this industry, and we knew he was pure on this issue," said Lowell Peterson, executive director of the WGA, East. "This was just an opportunity to let the West know that this was a culture that was moving west. We just want to encourage that culture."

Gold and Verrier also noted that the humorists at the decidedly left-leaning "Daily Show" also don't accept freelance jokes. Fortunately for entrepreneurial writers across the fruited plain, we at NewsBusters are not beholden to labor unions and encourage freelance joke writing for our NewsBusted comedy show.

So submit your joke(s) to newsbusted -at- dialognewmedia.com [hyperlink omitted to avoid spam]. If we use them, we'll pay you USD $50 for each one. And even if you don't, you get the satisfaction of knowing NewsBusters and NewsBusted is committed to honoring the freelance writer while making America laugh at the left-wing lunacy in the media.

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters