WASHINGTON -- Writers from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” hosted a debate on Capitol Hill Wednesday…No, really, they did.  No green-screen fake backdrop this time.

But, just to make sure it wasn’t too real, just like their shows, “Daily Show” writers represented TV and movie writers and “Colbert Report” writers morphed into producers. “Daily Show” writer Rob Kutner called the mock debate “edutaining” – educational while entertaining.

At issue is the 11-week-old Writers Guild of America strike over writers’ compensation for content that is shown online and through mobile devices.  The strike has halted the production of new episodes of television shows since Nov. 5.

Unlike the elegant conference room, which was set up with the microphones and panel seating of a real press conference, the mock debate was anything but stately.  The shows’ writers sparred like children:  Interrupting each other, going off on random tangents about buying The Simpsons movie online during the debate and wildly gesturing at times – all while managing to still highlight some of the key issues in the not-so-funny writers’ strike.  The writers even dressed the part, with those playing WGA members wearing casual button-down shirts and sweaters, while Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers actors wore suits.

Name-calling, a staple of the two “news” shows, was also common, as AMPTP actors repeatedly called the writers “nerds.” 

 “Don’t let their Aquaman T-shirts and their terrible posture fool you,” the “producers” said.  “These writers are rich.  Fact:  The average WGA writer makes more than a volunteer fireman, a volunteer crossing guard and a volunteer combined!  Even adjusted for inflation, these writers make more than Jesus did for his carpentry.  They think they’re better than Jesus.”

Asked whether unions are necessary, AMPTP actors said, “Do you want to know why the Chinese are beating the Chinese-made pants off of us right now?  It’s because they’re not afraid to let their 9-year-olds work 16-hours a day in the inhalable lead plant.  If we give in to these union writers and all their demands, they’re going to make TV more expensive.  That means it’s going to go offshore.  And before you know it, we’ll be watching ‘According to Mao’ and ‘Foot Binding with the Stars.’”

In the middle of the debate, writers poked fun at people who protest just for protest’s sake.  Wearing neon pink (the color for a women’s anti-war group) and green (color it environmental) T-shirts, two writers burst out of the crowd, purely to distract everyone from the conference.  “I have no policy to advocate…I’m just a lonely man who wasn’t held enough as a child!”

The writers also jabbed at studios that have filled airtime with reality shows because they don’t have writers to create new episodes of drama or comedy series to show.

“We have a great new lineup coming your way,” one of the fake “producers” said.  “Shows like ‘America’s Brownest Walls,’ ‘The Sleeping Bee’ and ‘Are You a Better Surgeon Than a Fifth Grader?’  So we have all that and a bag of chips coming your way.  In fact, I mean that literally.  We actually have a show about a bag of chips.  It’s called ‘Meet the Crunchers.’”