Despite being unconfirmed as of yet, this isn't hard to believe and is pretty damn awesome. Though Jon Stewart didn't really need to do something to make himself more awesome. Apparently he's offering to pay the writing staff from his own pocket while they're on strike. They still won't be writing, but this way they'll still be making money until the stalemate ends. And that's because of the fact that Jon's a supporter of unions:

In a show of solidarity with his fellow scribes, the Daily Show host has told his writing staff that he will cover all their salaries for the next two weeks, according to a well-placed source. He has also vowed to do the same for writers on The Colbert Report. A Comedy Central spokesman referred my inquiry about this to Stewart's personal publicist, who has yet to respond.

Stewart's intention, says the source, is to ensure his writers will face no financial hardship should the strike, which kicked off at 3 a.m. local time, conclude within that timeframe.

Meanwhile, both Stewart and Stephen Colbert are reportedly working on their contingency plans in case it doesn't. "There are indications that Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert will come back in tweaked form if the strike is a long one, leaning on interviews and other writer-free approaches to keep both programs alive in a very busy political season," reports today's Times.

It should come as no surprise that Stewart is a union die-hard: He tells the current issue of Rolling Stone that his childhood heroes included socialist leaders Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas.

Of course the extension to writers of The Colbert Report is more than just a nice gesture. Stewart owns Busboy Productions which produces The Colbert Report. I'm just extremely happy that they're already preparing to come up with new stuff in other ways instead of just continually showing reruns as other late-night TV will surely resort to. But the article seems to indicate that for these 2 weeks it may be reruns.