By David Bauder AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Advantage, David Letterman. Five of television's late-night funnymen return to the air Wednesday after two months, and while Letterman has his writing staff back, Jay Leno doesn't.

NBC's Leno and Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel all said they were coming back reluctantly with the writers strike still on, and will be putting on shows unlike any they've done before.

Letterman's production company worked out a separate deal with writers for his CBS "Late Show" and Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show."

Letterman's first-night booking was comic Robin Williams, with Bill Maher and Donald Trump due the next two nights. Leno is visited by GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, while other shows kept a lid on their plans.

"It's just an incredible opportunity to be there, particularly the very first night he's back," Huckabee said Tuesday. "Besides, if all else fails and this whole process doesn't work out, maybe he needs a sidekick and I'll be auditioning tomorrow."

Besides depriving the nation of punch lines, the two months of reruns have been devastating for the networks - particularly NBC.

Late-night leader Leno is averaging 4.4 million viewers this season, losing a quarter of his audience from last season. Before the strike, his audience was off 10 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Letterman's average of 3.6 million viewers is 15 percent off last season. Before the strike, his viewership was down 9 percent. Leno's audience was obviously far less interested in reruns or - even worse for NBC - decided to sample Letterman instead.

Kimmel's audience of 1.8 million viewers is slightly up from last season, because it follows "Nightline," which has been making fresh shows.

O'Brien's audience is down 29 percent from last season and he's been running virtually neck and neck with Ferguson: O'Brien has 1.8 million viewers, Ferguson 1.7 million. Now Ferguson returns with writers and O'Brien without.

How big the advantage might be for CBS likely depends on how long the strike lasts. At least at the beginning, the writer-less shows may draw viewers curious to see how the hosts respond.

The CBS programs will also probably have bigger-name guests. The Screen Actors Guild has urged its members to appear with Letterman and Ferguson. It's unclear whether Hollywood's glitterati will be willing to cross picket lines for face time on national television.

Besides being without writers, Leno, O'Brien and Kimmel will be unable to perform many familiar comic bits, including traditional monologues, because of strike rules.

Comedy Central's topical nightly comedies, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," will return Monday without striking writers.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is a division of CBS Corp. NBC is owned by General Electric Co.

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On the Net:

CBS:

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/

NBC:

http://www.nbc.com/

ABC:

http://www.abc.go.com/index

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