“My wife and I are both very cognizant of the fact that we don’t want our kids to have trauma based on what I’m doing on stage,” says Seth Meyers, whose latest stand-up special, “Dad Man Walking,” focuses almost entirely on his domestic life.
The comedian still targets his kids in the HBO hour, with careful consideration as to whether they’ll appreciate the jokes when they reach high school. His wife, meanwhile, only has one rule about being the subject of Meyers’ material.
“She once said, ‘I never care how mean you make me sound, as long as you make me sound right,’” Meyers recalls. “That tells you more about my wife than literally any joke I’ve ever written.”
Below, Meyers dishes on the special and why he might be part of the last bastion of late-night television hosts. Plus, he reveals a raunchy “Weekend Update” joke that got cut before the “Saturday Night Live” broadcast.
When telling jokes about your wife, are there places you’re explicitly forbidden to go?
Not really. I’m a little bit of a shady operator, because I think if I had said to her, “I want to do a bit about the time you tried to bring hummus on the plane,” she would have said, “Absolutely not.” Instead, I waited until it worked, and I played it for her. I put her in that awful situation of making her tell me to take out a piece of good material for my special. She’s a good sport in cases like that.
Do your kids find you funny?
Ish. I wouldn’t say I’m their favorite. My wife is a former prosecutor, and I would say she does just as well as me, if not a little better.
Coming from that “SNL” background and then at “Late Night,” every joke is workshopped by a team of very funny writers. What is it like putting together a stand-up special alone?
It’s liberating, but it’s also — I would say thrilling, more than scary. There’s a different kind of excitement for coming up with a new stand-up bit. As opposed to a really good joke on our show — which is also great but immediately loses its value as soon as you say it — if you write a really good stand-up joke, you can do it for as long as you’re doing that hour.
How has the fact that nearly every comedian has a podcast — many of which have a wider reach than most television shows — affected late-night talk shows?
It hasn’t infringed on the kind of comedy I’m doing. You want to make sure that everybody can get the kind of comedy they want, and we’re always careful not to start doing the kind of comedy we don’t want to be doing. I get it. I do that podcast with the Lonely Island guys, and we listen back to it to find edits and stuff. Even though I was on it, I’m like, “Oh, it’s nice listening to people who like one another.” It’s a different vibe. I totally get people who engage with podcasts as their comedy.
If there’s anything that podcasts have affected, it’s that you realize that when you’re talking to somebody for eight minutes, it’s very unlikely you’re going to get deeper than a podcast host does with them over the course of an hour and a half. So, it does put a burden on interviews. You want to move quickly and be funny, because it has to be a different thing than a long-form podcast interview.
A lot of these comedians will have politicians on their podcasts and talk to them for two or three hours. Are you at all envious of that format?
We’ve kind of weaned ourselves off politicians as guests to begin with, because we have more fun talking about politics than talking to politicians. I actually think there’s more value in a politician going on a podcast and not feeling the rush to just hit talking points, which sometimes they might have on a show like mine. I think it’s good for the politicians and good for the voters for them to go someplace where there’s more time and less of a race to hit whatever their PR team has come up with.
Your compatriot Jimmy Kimmel has said he believes there might not be late-night hosts in 10 years. Do you share that view? Do you see yourselves as the last bastion of late-night television?
Unless some major sea change happens, I don’t think there’s going to be a whole new wave of network hosts, in the way there always has been. Nobody understands this business and this format better than Jimmy Kimmel, so when he talks about it, I tend to share his opinion. I feel very fortunate about when I got in — both at “SNL” and with “Late Night.” But it does bum me out that other people won’t have exactly this opportunity. Then again, when you think about podcasts, they have just as big of a reach as we ever had. Interesting voices are always going to use the technologies they have at hand to find an audience. So, if you’re a great lover of the institution of late-night talk shows, there’s probably some sadness in your future. But if you love funny people telling funny jokes and talking to people in interesting ways, that’s always going to be available.
You re-upped your contract at “Late Night” through 2028. How much longer do you see yourself behind the desk?
After ’28, I think we’ll go on a week-to-week contract. No — the network knows that I would like to do it as long as they’ll have me.
Will you be consulting for the U.K. version of “SNL”?
I would love the offer, just for a boondoggle to the U.K. But I have not been asked.
What do you make of the expansion of the show?
It is exciting. It’s so thrilling anytime anybody takes a big swing on anything. A lot of my former colleagues are working on it, and I think some of the funniest people in the world live in the U.K. So, it could be something special.
Why has “SNL” not pulled talent from the U.K. over the years?
I think Lorne said, “For the first 50 years, I just want to see if I can do it with Americans. And once we get our feet on firm footing, maybe we’ll reach out to the international market.” I don’t know! Of course, over the years, plenty of British people have come through and hosted. Maybe there’s an understanding that if it works in England, it should be with the English sense of humor. Even though there’s a fair amount of overlap, they are two different sensibilities.
I’m not going to ask you the Lorne question, but I’m going to ask you if you’re sick of being asked the Lorne question.
I’m only not sick of it because I find it incredibly flattering anytime anybody asks me [if I’d take over “SNL” after Lorne Michaels]. Mostly because my first five years on “SNL,” I felt like I was falling into an elevator shaft. So, it’s a very nice question for someone who really thought they were terrible at the show.
Everyone who is asked about Lorne retiring says, “Well, he’s never going to retire.” But do you actually believe that he’ll run “SNL” forever?
I do. I’m not being glib with that answer. He just loves it so much. If he had a hobby that was like, “If only I could get this show off my schedule, then I’d start fishing…” it’s just not Lorne. This is his first love, and nothing keeps you young more than being surrounded by young people. Lorne is smart enough to know that.
I have some rapid-fire questions. What makes you laugh the hardest?
My kids.
Worst you’ve ever bombed?
I once tried to do improv at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at a stand-up comedy night, and very drunk Scottish people did not care for me and my partner asking for suggestions.
What is the best type of audience member?
A good listener.
Worst type of audience member?
A person with a unique, piercing laugh.
What is the hackiest thing a comedian can do in 2025?
Be in a room and realize that everybody is there to laugh and have a good time, and what an incredible privilege it is to be the person that they have asked to do that for them.
I think you heard “happiest,” but I said “hackiest.”
So, I definitely did.
Is there a joke on “SNL” or “Late Night” that you’re glad you never told?
I wrote a joke for “Weekend Update,” and Amy Poehler was like, “You’re fucking crazy. It’s never going to work.” And I’m like, “It’s gonna crush.” I did it at dress rehearsal: “A man in Washington state was recently arrested after he was caught having sex with the family dog. Even worse, it was makeup sex.” Amy had to jump in front of my body, lest the audience drag me into the street.
That was cut before the live show?
I think it was cut before “Update” was over.
Favorite late-night bit from someone else’s show, past or present?
On our podcast, the Lonely Island guys were just talking about the time they did “I’m on a Boat” on “Fallon” with classroom instruments. Watching a musician and the Roots and Jimmy do a song using classroom instruments is an incredibly unique bit that I never tire of watching. And I don’t feel that jealous of it because I can’t sing and have no rhythm. So, it’s not like, “Ugh, why didn’t we come up with that?”
Best comedy or joke-writing advice?
Shorter.
Read the full article here
