The late-night comedians have been having their fun. They did the same during the government shutdown in October of 2013, when Conan O'Brien paraded through the back offices of his studio determining which employees were essential and which could be temporarily laid-off.  Finding employees "buying pies online" and asking them to make their case whether they were indeed essential, O'Brien later polled all of the workers to determine who on his staff was the top candidate to be furloughed given the tight budget.  The unanimous choice was, of course, the frequent target of O'Brien's jokes: Jordan Schlansky.