Who knew Conan O'Brien could sing?

Probably the highlight of the return of the late-night talk shows this month, after two months of the writers' strike, has been the rockabilly performances by Conan O'Brien the past two Fridays on his NBC show "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." On Jan. 4, he did a rousing rendition of "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and last Friday he did "40 Days," and did a credible, entertaining job on both of them.

Actually, he's sung a few times before -- for example, there's a recurring bit on the show where he sings disturbing lyrics to a lullaby-like tune, supposedly for the benefit of parents kept up by sleepless babies. But this was different -- he was actually singing for the purpose of musical entertainment, not as a joke. At least, not completely as a joke. The songs shared a tongue-in-cheek presentation, and Conan wore a cowboy hat and a sparkly jacket.

For someone's who's known as a writer and a comedian, not a singer, it was an enjoyable and entertaining surprise -- something out of the old days of TV as opposed to today's focus-group-driven era.

Five of the broadcast network talk shows returned to the airwaves Jan. 2; "Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" returned with their writing staffs, as a result of an agreement worked out between the Writers' Guild of America and Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants. The others -- Conan, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" -- returned without their writers. "Last Call with Carson Daly" had already returned without writers.

Then, last week, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" returned to Comedy Central. There's been a difference of opinion over what the returning hosts are supposed to be doing in this circumstance. WGA officials claim that those late night hosts who are also WGA members aren't supposed to write anything in advance, while Leno has publicly claimed that he is allowed to write his own material (and the others apparently agree, having participated in obviously-scripted bits since their return). Leno and Kimmel even guested on each other's competing shows, which overlap in many markets, in support of that position.

Stewart expressed on-air annoyance that Comedy Central, which tried to cut a Letterman-like deal with the WGA to cover "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," was rebuffed. The WGA is only dealing company-by-company, not show-by-show. While Letterman owns his own and Ferguson's programs, and could therefore make a deal, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are owned by Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom, and WGA wasn't interested in cutting a deal with part of Viacom until it cuts a deal with all of Viacom.

"The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," while they both have interview segments, are much more about scripted comedy than the talk shows, and I thought they would suffer the most on their return. But -- at least during their first week back -- Stewart and Colbert seemed to have been energized by the challenge. Stewart, like all of the hosts, has proclaimed his support for the writers, and has even temporarily changed the name of his program to "A Daily Show with Jon Stewart," saying that "The Daily Show" should only refer to the normal product produced by his writing staff.

Letterman no doubt believed that being able to return with his writers would give him an advantage, and perhaps allow him to beat Leno in the ratings for the first time in more than a decade. If the strike drags on, and the writerless hosts run out of ideas, perhaps that will be the case -- but right now, even a die-hard Letterman fan like myself has to admit that some of the writerless hosts are doing a pretty good job keeping things interesting. I haven't watched Leno since the return -- because I never watch Leno -- but there have been things that Conan, Jon and Stephen have done which were more entertaining than Letterman's scripted comedy.

Both Dave and Conan grew "strike beards" during their absence. Dave has shaved his off; Conan still has his, and the rebellious attitude that goes with it.

John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette and covers county government and other topics. His home page is lakeneuron.com.