You tell us: Late-night comedy returns, but is it funny?

(CNN) -- With an ongoing writers' strike forcing many TV shows into reruns, tube viewers are wondering what they are missing. Some shows are back in production with or without their writers, placing the strike at the forefront of many comedians' routines.

CNN.com asked readers what they thought about the strike, and challenged them to send their own comedy routines. Responses flooded in as amateur and professional comedians sought to see how they stacked up against the standup kings.

Some sent top 10 lists addressing the strike and talk show hosts' beards, while others sent footage of their joke delivery. Hal Spear, a Livingston, New Jersey, writer sidelined by the strike, sent a video of himself delivering jokes he would have otherwise sent to TV talk shows.

Below is a selection of the responses, some of which have been edited for length and clarity.

Marlene Adelman of San Francisco, California
I used to do stand-up comedy, and now I do sit-down tragedy -- I work for attorneys! I am giving you my top 10 comedy ideas for late-night talk shows.

10. Audiences play bingo, with a star as caller.
9. Stupid human tricks
8. Stephen Colbert interviewing himself (there's something different!)
7. Jon Stewart shows and discusses his bar mitzvah video.
6. Seance with Johnny Carson
5. Use impersonators instead of the actual host
4. Conan returns to San Francisco and tapes his show in drag.
3. David Letterman shows dads how to change diapers and deal with throw-up.
2. Audience members do stand-up comedy, everyone in the audience armed with tomatoes and rotten eggs
1. Live plastic surgery correcting Jay Leno's chin

That's all folks!

Pat Ames of Mishawaka, Indiana
Top 10 things I've done while the writers are on strike:

10. I've watched about 10 percent of the DVDs I've bought during the last 18 months and hadn't gotten around to.
9. I scored over 600,000 on Chuzzle.
8. I can recite all of the dialogue in every CSI episode (reruns on Spike).
7. I laundered two months' worth of underwear and socks.
6. I went to a restaurant, twice, at 8 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.
5. I wrote a screenplay.
4. I play with the cats.
3. I read two novels.
2. I got halfway through a year's worth of Newsweek magazines.
1. I don't have to stay up until 10 p.m. on Tuesdays to watch House.

Michael Salamone of Buffalo, New York
Editor's note: This list was originally sent to lateshowwritersonstrike.com before David Letterman's "Late Show" returned to air.

Dear Late Show writers,
First off, as someone who lives and eats by the pen, I want to express my support for you in this strike. I hope it is resolved completely to your benefit. I don't watch a lot of TV, but for many years now I've been a super-fan of the Letterman show. Frankly, I'm going through withdrawal. Here are the top 10 ways I've tried to curb my Late Show withdrawal symptoms while you've been on strike.

10. Making up and annoying friends with my own fun-facts, 14 percent of which happen to accidentally be true
9. Convincing girlfriend that beer chugging could get me on stupid human tricks someday
8. Breaking glassware and singing "Old Turkey Buzzard" (usually after the beer chugging)
7. Painted a portrait of Biff Henderson using shaving cream and toothpaste
6. Annoying co-workers by taking items from their desks to play "Will It Float" with in the unisex toilet
5. Nearly getting arrested for tossing watermelons off the roof of our office building
4. Pretending that said girlfriend is Grinder Girl
3. Giving entire family choice of dinner for two or raw meat for holiday gifts
2. Ripping on Regis every chance I get
1. Checking LateShowWritersOnStrike.com several times a day for a fix

John DiCarSmaracolm of New York
Top 5 ways not to strike:

5. There's no difference between the material before and during the strike.
4. Prove that Hollywood is the cause of global warming by reducing emissions by 50 percent during the strike as celebs' planes are grounded for weeks.
3. Let Leno write his own material that was better than the "writers'" material.
2. Cancel an awards show that means nothing to the general public, but is one of the many opps celebs have to flaunt their plastic surgery-enhanced bodies and coo over one another.
1. You have a strike, and no one cares.

Chris Ritsch of Baltimore, Maryland
Reasons why the U.S. population doesn't care about the writers' Strike:

8. America is too busy losing mortgage payments playing online poker.
7. Isn't there some kind of election going on somewhere?
6. Because after three years, no one cares why the hell they are on that island in the first place.
5. One word: Britney.
4. The Internet porn writers are NOT on strike.
3. Most Americans can't afford health care, let alone cable TV.
2. Local libraries are running a "borrow one, get one free" special this month.
1. The Weather Channel rarely shows repeats.

Stu Wright of Cope, South Carolina
It's so cold where the candidates have been (Iowa and New Hampshire) that the politicians have had their hands in their own pockets ...

It's been colder in New Hampshire than Hillary's look after losing Iowa ...

Soon we will have candidates running around South Carolina like a pack of stray dogs in a sausage factory.

Tony Gaetano of Wilson, North Carolina
Reasons Letterman and O'Brien had beards during the strike:

9. They weren't used to being awake in the morning and kept forgetting to shave.
8. They couldn't afford to buy a razor during the strike.
7. The dressing room staff wasn't on the set to shave them.
6. They thought it was a '60s sit-in.
5. Letterman wanted to look like Tim Allen in The Santa Clause.
4. The beards came free with a picket sign.
3. Hairpiece on top, why not on the bottom also?
2. They lost their product endorsement and boycotted shaving.
1. They didn't want to be recognized by the Teamsters and sent to visit Jimmy Hoffa.

Douglas J. O'Bryon of Strongsville, Ohio
With the writers' strike still unresolved, we thought we might take a moment to look back at the people and events that defined 2007.

Last week, the American Dialect Society selected "subprime" as the word of the year in 2007, and for good reason, as it seemed to affect nearly every facet of American life. Local steakhouses started adding added subprime rib to their menus, math curriculums are now including a subprime numbering system, and "The Transformers" have since renamed their upcoming sequel, "Optimus Subprime: A Farewell to ARMs."

Last year's Inconvenient Truth was that 2007 was the Year of Green, and thanks to his landmark movie on global warming, Al Gore was selected for the Nobel Peace Prize ... only to be informed later that, once again, he didn't win -- he "tied" -- having to share the award with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the international equivalent of Band Camp).

The iPhone's July launch tempted so many people to take a bite out of Apple that they've since diversified their iPod and iTunes products to include their own private-labeled iLiner and iCandy, an HMO called iDoctor, and a new edible computer partnership with McDonalds called the iMac... iKarumba!

Not since the Wright Brothers has air travel been so wrong, with over 25 percent of all departures delayed in 2007, prompting airline executives to launch their new "Better Late Than Never" marketing campaign.

Internationally, the Great Mall of China almost shanghaied Christmas, as 9 million recalled products had China seeing red, prompting the launch of a new "No Peking" return policy. Refusing to be painted into a corner, Mattel's marketing department quickly seized on this opportunity to introduce their new "Polly Pocket Protector" and "Dora the Exploder" line of toys. At the urging of importers, the Communist government has created a China Cabinet (which is seldom used, and mostly for show) and announced that, in addition to steroids, all 2008 Olympic athletes will also be tested for lead. E-mail to a friend