One difference from last year's ceremony, noted Meyers: "We have an open bar. All the drinks are free and, we apologize for this, you will have to watch a 30-second ad."

The quips were met with whoops and laughter from the crowd, but the reaction turned positively uproarious when Meyers introduced writer Nikki Finke, whose avid coverage of the strike on her website Deadline Hollywood has occasionally been interrupted because she said the workload was wearing her out.

Instead of Finke, out came comedian Rachel Dratch, coughing as she shuffled across the stage in a fuzzy blue-and-white polka-dotted bathrobe.

"Health status report coming soon," she croaked. "Stay tuned!"

"I don't know how to tell you this, Nikki, but the reason we brought you up here is that we wanted to let you know that if indeed the strike is over, none of us are ever going to go to your website again," Meyers said, as the audience cheered.

"There's more fallout from the shakeup at New Line Cinema! Jennifer Connelly is ankling ICM!" shouted Dratch, dissolving into a coughing fit.

Even Walter Bernstein, the 88-year-old screenwriter of such movies as "Fail Safe" and "The Front," offered a tart response when he was recognized as "one whose contributions have brought honor and dignity to writers everywhere."

"If I've had anything to do with bringing honor and respect to writers, I apologize," Bernstein said. "I think the last thing writers need is honor and respect. What they need is money."

As the jovial crowd headed out into the night, Meyers, holding a mug bearing the title "World's Best Striker," a recognition of his constant presence on the picket lines, pronounced the evening a success.

"I think it's very important for people at the WGA to see everybody not looking freezing and walking in a circle," he said. "And to realize that after what was a very abnormal time, there will be normalcy again, for everybody."

matea.gold@latimes.com