Showing the sort of bright and sunny leadership that has makes his brother Rahm such an uplifting presence, William Morris-Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel bucked up his troops this week with a poignant reminder that things have sucked for showbiz before.

So you think the American economy's bad? Well get a load of this: Things are so awful in Japan that many of that country's women are seeking employment as gentleman's club "hostesses," which is basically a prerequisite to prostitution.

So you wanna be a hotshot agent like Ari on that horrible Entourage show? Well, you'll probably have to start out as an assistant, which means you'd better have a trust fund or an insatiable fondness for ramen noodles.

Toiling as an assistant within the smoldering bowels of newly-formed superagency William Morris Endeavor should, apparently, be its own reward. Because the $9.50 an hour the gig pays won't buy any other kind of reward.