While network television's late night talk show hosts have held off telling jokes about Darren James and Lara Roxx, the two adult performers at the center of the current HIV outbreak, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno have both had a few jokes to tell about the moratorium in which many production companies have voluntarily participated.
ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live was the first to write a skit about the moratorium, inviting Jewel De' Nyle and Lexington Steele to take part in it on April 16, then having Dave Pounder and Nikki Nova take part in yet another skit on April 19.
Then NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno invited Mary Carey, Hannah Harper and Sunrise Adams to participate in a skit that focused on the moratorium on April 21.
Their skit was about what porn stars do during a work stoppage. All three women were depicted as helping on the set, holding cue cards and moving lights, but doing so while scantily clad – the way you'd expect a porn star to be dressed.
Leno told at least ten porn moratorium jokes since the HIV outbreak began receiving national media attention. On two nights, the moratorium made up half his opening monologue. His moratorium material typically made light of the type of people affected by the voluntary production hiatus, such as this example: "They say that 6,000 actresses are out of work because of the porn shutdown. 6,000 actresses, 400 cameramen and one writer."
Not only did Leno talk about the moratorium, he also covered the threat of government regulation: "According to the daily news here in Los Angeles, experts say the porn industry might need government regulation. Finally, a job for Bill Clinton. Get him out of the house."
Jimmy Kimmel doesn't open his show with a monologue, but did tell at least one joke about the HIV outbreak itself during his show: "There's been a health scare in the porn industry. But the good news is that it's still safe to watch."
David Letterman, Conan O'Brian, and Craig Kilbourne were all on a production hiatus of their own – no doubt to their chagrin.
