Transcript of "Seth Meyers"

You know, I've heard this for years, being in the Hollywood business, that for every 100 auditions, you'll book one job. So just keep going and keep going. And I thought, gosh, for every 100 episodes of SmartLess, there's always one good one. So we got about 3 in the can.

Welcome to SmartLess.

SmartLess. SmartLess.

Smartless.

Smartless.

Guys, guess what's coming up in a couple days?

Yeah, yeah, I know, we gotta mention—

Oh my God.

Yeah, the Hollywood Bowl.

Hollywood Bowl.

We're gonna be at the Hollywood Bowl October 17th.

And not just there, like not hanging out, actually doing a show.

We're gonna be on the stage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And if you don't have tickets yet, you go to smartless.com/live. Is that right?

Wait, what's it— what is it?

smartlist.com/live.

Oh my gosh, that's pretty easy. And, and for that, they're gonna, they're gonna get a double guest, is that right?

Yep.

2 guests.

And we got some fun, we got some fun surprises.

Yeah, really?

Yeah, we got some fun surprises.

All for the price of one ticket.

Yeah.

And a nice, beautiful October, October 17th, correct? Right. A fall night out there under the stars.

It's gonna be gorgeous. And, and you, yeah, you buy a ticket and you can't, you can't put a price tag on a smile.

Oh, what a great sell. Will, you're the best. Anyway, it's going to be a great night. Hopefully as great as this next guest coming up. Guys, let's get to the episode. You can hear me now?

There he is.

Listener and guest.

You spent all night on your computer in incognito mode for we don't know why, but we just know.

I had to change all my settings, all my usernames.

Sorry. If you got hacked, it would be the most boring hack for a hacker. It would just be all baseball stats.

And lists of movie stuff.

Yeah.

And when I get all the cookie alerts, would you like to reject all cookies or whatnot? And I do. I do reject them. I know Sean, you don't.

Quick question, Sean, have you ever— Yeah, I beat you.

But I don't have any secrets. And, you know, so like my instinct is to accept the cookies because then I don't get ads for things that I don't need, you know, like, right. You know, skin rashes and things like that. I get ads for—

JB, but you don't have secrets. But you used to be— there was a time where you were just built on secrets. Yeah.

Well, no, I think I was doing things at a time when we didn't have phones. and things to photograph us. And even then, I wasn't— I was never a bad boy. It's so boring. Even my bad days were boring.

When you say bad boy, I like the idea of you, like, in a leather jacket, and then you flip the collar up, you know?

Or, like, could you imagine me ever trying to, like, mix it up with, like, a paparazzi guy that gets too close to my face, and I take a swing at him like Sean Penn, and then I just get my ass beaten repeatedly?

I could see— I could actually see that. Wait, have you ever owned a leather jacket? Quickly, either of you? Of course, yeah.

Yeah, I have. But they were soft and suede. They weren't even, like, manly.

Lambskin. Mine was lambskin back in the '80s or '90s.

No, no, no, I'm saying leather jacket. Yeah, leather jacket. Oh, I see.

Okay.

Okay.

I think I had, like, a veal skin vest.

Veal skin vest.

That had Velcro closers on it.

Tonight we got a beautiful veal skin. What else have we got? Chef is preparing a beautiful veal skin.

Oh, yeah. Um, now, uh, Will, uh, I feel like it's been a while since we've had an update on your, uh, on your love life and domestic life.

Oh, yeah. What's going on there?

We always talk about Sean and I's personal life. What about— what's going on with your personal life?

What's going on, Will?

It's going really well.

Oh, that's nice.

Yeah.

What's happening?

What—

first of all, both of you know exactly. Talk about secrets.

Yeah, what are the deets on that?

Both of you know exactly what's happening, and this is just— I'm not gonna walk into your trailer and show you.

You're happy. Let's suffice to say you're happy.

I'm very happy.

Very, very happy. Okay, so things are going great.

Things are going great.

You know, I— Things are trending— hold on, let me lead the witness. Things are trending north. Yeah. You know, the relationship is still ascendant.

Yes. Yes.

Okay.

And if that were to continue to go on the course that it's going at the angle it is currently headed, where does that go?

Yeah.

Well, first of all, why are you leading— why am I in court? Why are you leading? What is that?

Please answer the question, sir.

Permission to treat the witnesses hostile.

Yeah. I mean, look, it'll be a perfect world in 5 years. What does this relationship look like?

Can I be honest with you?

Please.

If I fucking knew what 5 years— I am now at 56. I have learned a little bit in the last 2 years, especially, to let go of whatever ideas that I think it's gonna go or it's gonna happen. I have— as we know, you get dealt so many fucking curveballs.

Yeah.

And so I'm— I'm in a place now where I'm really trying my best to just deal with what's in front of me and to try to take the next best—

But you don't want to be fully reactive to everything in your life. You do like to be proactive in some areas, right? And kind of have the car moving in a particular direction.

Well, for me, that has been in the last couple of years, as both of you know, trying my best to lay a great foundation. I surround myself with great people. I'm in great programs with people. I've done some work on myself to try to do it in a way so that whatever does come my way, I handle it hopefully better than I have historically.

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Prosecution rests.

Hey, you know what? Let's get to our guest, huh?

Okay.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer is on the show today to walk Will through the weather.

You know what?

Let's see. He might have a Dr. Ruth. He might have an opinion on Dr. Ruth. I don't know. He's got opinions on lots of stuff, and I like his opinions on most of the stuff. He lands on the right side of virtually every issue I think I've ever had a conversation with him about.

Right meaning correct?

Correct.

Funny.

insightful and, and, and, and well— he's, he's well-educated. He's super smart. He's got 35 Emmy nominations to back it up. He's hosted the Golden Globes. He's, he's hosted the Emmys. He's produced shows. Uh, he was a cast member of SNL for 13 years. He was the co-host of Weekend Update for 8 years with my ex-wife and our old friend Amy Poehler.

Seth Meyers.

You guys—

It's Seth Meyers.

Seth Meyers! Seth Meyers!

Hello, gentlemen.

This is our— Hello.

The right— Seth is just digging in.

He's been taking notes. Thank you for clarifying the right side of every issue. I was like, okay, well, hold— that means— This was thrilling. Just the pre-show banter. And, you know, again, anybody who listens to the show hears the pre-show banter. But I bet that— again, I'm now new to the podcast game compared to you guys.

It's dead easy.

It's thrilling to find out the tech doesn't get sorted out. Yeah, yeah, no, it's true. I mean, if you guys could hear the 3 of them try to get ready for a podcast, they've done over 300. I was Googling how many episodes you were doing over the course of—

Should I shut down or reset? Should I reboot or shut down?

Jason, at one point you said, can I hear me? You asked the other 2 guys, can I hear me?

That's our new t-shirt and our swag.

I'm just— I can't wait to tell the Lonely Island guys it does not get easier. It does not get smoother.

We're all ding-dongs. If anything, it gets harder.

My favorite thing about when Jason, when he has to reboot and when it's not working and he can't hear the headphones, is his face. Because he's in— so he's not aware of his face. So he's looking and it's like my dad with the remote and somebody has changed the input. Forget it.

And somehow we feel like if we get closer to the object that's troubling us, it'll become fixed. Just get your face closer to it. Yeah.

We're all the age now where at certain angles we look like 70-year-old aunts. You know what I mean? And it's usually when we're trying to figure out— again, Will, it's like in the cheater zone. I'm there too. With just certain angles. Yeah, yeah, right.

Somehow I always seem to have my jaw somewhat separated, and people say— they take these pictures of me. Will is guilty of this. My wife a lot. Taking pictures of me with my— and Jimmy. Kimmel and Molly, my mouth's just slightly open and I'm staring off into space, or I'm laughing with my mouth sort of agape. So, yeah, it's sort of, uh, it's a sign of old age coming in, I think.

I also— I do think I've crossed the threshold with my wife where if I see her taking out her phone to take a picture of me, it means that something's gone terribly wrong.

Yeah.

Something's not right on my face.

No, it's— you just reach the point where it's not like, I need pictures of my husband looking handsome or good.

No, it's something they can send to their friends and laugh at.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's so many. Seth, dude, uh, this has been so long overdue. I feel like we talked about this last fall.

I'm so happy to be here.

We talked about it last— I ran into you during, uh, trick-or-treating last fall in New York, uh, in the middle of mayhem in the West Village.

Wait, how did that— that, that, that's— how does that go? That's just purely— that's just elevator riding, correct?

It was really exciting. We had 2 great run-ins in the course of like 3 months.

Oh, yes.

One was just West Village Packed West Village.

Okay.

Perfect place to take your kids trick-or-treating in New York City.

But otherwise, otherwise it's—

Genuinely, like—

it's in apartment buildings usually though, right? I mean, you're going up and down the elevators.

This is people— no, this is now people sitting on brownstone steps.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

And, uh, and it's— they close down the streets and it is a real great— Oh, nice.

It is.

Community vibe.

It is.

Uh, you know, my kids, I, I— we saw, uh, Will, we saw Alec Baldwin in half a Teletubby costume.

Oh, sure.

With like 4 of his 6 kids and just trying to get—

And were you guys dressed up?

Matthew Broderick. I love Matthew. What's that? We were— I was not dressed up. Will, I don't think. No. We were—

yeah.

No, we were— We wanted— we still wanted to be recognized for our work. We weren't trying to draw attention to IP that we didn't own.

I was wearing a t-shirt. I think that said, ask me if I'm Will Arnett. Is that right?

Yeah, that was—

yeah. Wait, and then we were in— I was in London having dinner with Laura Dern and Mark Chappell, and Rashida walked by.

Rashida Jones.

Rashida Jones. And she was like, hey, guys! And we were in the front, and she goes, I'm here with Seth. And I went back, and you were sitting by yourself. And I said, we're over here. And you guys came and joined us, and we had a very fun, impromptu night at a restaurant in London.

Gosh.

It was great. You're selling yourself short because you first came over, and I was— Rashida had— had gone to use the restroom, so I was just looking at my phone like everybody would do, and you came over to take my order. And so I had a moment where—

That's funny.

It was jarring. And then lovely.

Well, because you didn't— you hadn't seen me since Halloween, and you're like, in that time, he's now working at the Dover in London. Yeah.

Uh-huh.

Right. And like I said, you never know what life's gonna throw at you.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. 'Cause I said on Halloween, I'm like, what are you up to now? And you're like, I've got some irons in the fire.

I did say that.

Did you guys ever go through a table waiting period of your lives?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah?

Yeah, for sure. I was at the Twisted Lizard in Chicago, which closed in the last 5 years. But I was— yeah, that was in my early improv days. And I remember the most memorable moment was I— it was downstairs. You took stairs down. And I remember once getting no tip and chasing a guy out and asking why he didn't leave me a tip. And he said, because you're a bad waiter.

No way.

He said that?

Which is basically historically what that means. Yes. Not yet. I needed to— I needed to make him tell me twice.

Well, but in your defense, you probably said, fair enough.

Yeah, I was. Yeah, I did not fight it after that. I was like, oh, I thought it was an oversight.

It's tough. I mean, it's tough to argue. I mean, you can— I mean, theoretically, you could have said, well, in what way? You know what I mean? But at that point, there's no point.

I think also, as soon as he said that, I looked back and saw about 6 or 7 things I could have done differently.

Right.

Now, let me ask you guys this. I'm not sure if this is the most relatable part of this interview, but in Europe, fellas, you're not supposed to leave a tip. Is that correct? I always get tripped up on this.

Uh, it's changed.

It's kind of a— It has changed.

Yeah.

What is it now?

You do.

You do leave a tip, but is it like—

You do, but you don't have to.

If you're American, you do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The hope is you think about how much of your work has gone international.

Yes.

And whether or not they'll be able to— word of mouth will be able to get out that you're a bad tipper.

That's the calculation.

I used to be a really bad tipper.

I was a runner. Remember the restaurant Red in LA?

No.

Remember that?

No.

No. It was on the corner, it was on Beverly. I was a runner there and I—

Wait, was it in parentheses?

No, it was bright red on the outside. It was called Red. And they had great turkey meatloaf. But anyway, they— so I would run, I would be a runner, not even a waiter. And I had the one joke ready. Every single table, they would say, you know, I'd have 3 plates and be like, great, blah, blah, blah. And inevitably, I'd put it down in front of somebody and they'd go, Well, that looks fantastic. And I'd point to my shirt and I'd say, thanks, I just got it.

What a joke.

So wait, a runner is the person that brings the plates, doesn't take the order?

Just runs the food. Runs the food.

Got it.

Yeah, I couldn't—

I wasn't surprised. Red in parentheses— isn't red in parentheses Bono's, like, humanitarian? Oh, right.

Yes. Oh, okay. There you go.

See how old I'm getting?

It's also a nice burn on Sean. You're like, were you the one that was the humanitarian one?

Okay. Yeah, no, not at all. Yeah, but I got yelled at all the time. Like, do you know where you're going? Do you know which table you're going? I'm like, no, I just look at that. And then you had to memorize the seats where everybody was sitting, not only the 70 tables. It was hard.

I'm just curious, how long did you work there, Sean?

About a year.

Okay. And it was just the one joke?

Just the one joke.

Yeah. Like you never decided to punch it up or just—

No, he kept refining it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was good though.

And they never gave you the promotion up a level?

No, I asked too to be a waiter, but I didn't I get it. couldn't.

Oh, look at you now.

I had more stress dreams about being a waiter than I did—

Yeah, there's too much. Remember Squirrel? Remember the program called Squirrel on the computer, which they would punch in, the waiters would punch it in?

Oh, right, right.

Anybody? No?

Okay, great.

And you'd slide your card in to open up the thing.

On the POS?

Was that squirrel in parentheses?

Yeah.

No, no.

All right, Seth, speaking of starting out, let's talk about how you started out. We gotta go down. Cue the music. Yeah, cue the music.

You're from New Hampshire.

But we all know you're a Steelers fan, and we don't need to get into that. We know, right?

That's fine.

If you wanna—

That's fine.

If you wanna explain yourself— I'll talk to you for one second.

I don't— I will just tell you this real quick. Yesterday, my 10-year-old son was on the phone with my 78-year-old father talking about the Steelers' first preseason game, and I genuinely wanted to just go sit in a corner and sob. It made me so happy. Like, just that— 'cause it's just empty nonsense, no-calorie conversation, but the connection is real. And it was just like my son saying things like, I think Jeremy Bernard is probably our 3rd best receiver. And I'm like, great.

That's all I needed. But now Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback again, correct?

Yes, Aaron Rodgers is the starting quarterback.

And he's also the chief scientist, I think, isn't he?

He is. He's taken over science for most of Pittsburgh, I think.

Yep.

And does he get to eat earlier because he's a senior, or does he eat with the rest of the team?

Oh, that's a good question. I believe he does. There's still certain places—

Wait, how old is Aaron Rodgers?

11. 43 years old. Oh my God. Wow. Which is— that's very old for football.

Yeah. Yeah.

I don't lie.

Young for podcasts.

That's true. Yeah.

You bet your ass.

You know what? I will say though, I connect with my dad. I'm a long-suffering Toronto Maple Leafs fan. And my dad and I often— you know, he's about to be 88, and we talk about the Leafs.

Yes.

That's our sort of point. We talk about lots of other stuff too, but that is the thing that we can talk about on a daily basis.

Yes.

We can just sort of have a, hey, they looked terrible last night. What's going on? All that kind of stuff. And it keeps us connected in that way. As you say, it's light on calories, but it's very filling.

So, Seth— So, Seth—

Oh, hi. So, wait. So, Seth, you come out, you're fighting out of New Hampshire, and you decide, what is the thing? How do you— You went to Northwestern. Is that where you started writing and/or performing comedy, or were you doing it? before—

I was softly doing it in college. I'm sorry, in high school. We— I remember we did a comedy night in high school where we sort of wrote sketches. We were doing, you know, uh, uh, B-minus impressions of teachers and stuff, but it was really fun. But I was— I went to college to be a film major, thought I wanted to write and direct movies. And Northwestern has this—

Yeah.

Very famous—

So many people I know that go there.

Yeah.

And then it's, uh, Meow is this very— I think the first improv troupe at any college, and, uh, it's been around forever. And that was immediately what I wanted to do. I saw them my first week.

Did you do any second Second City while you were in Chicago?

After college, I— that was my goal. I did— I only did Meow for one year, but that was all I wanted to do was to do Second City. And I had seen a lot of Second City. My parents went to Northwestern. They'd seen a lot of Second City. I remember when we went and looked at Northwestern, my dad brought me to Second City and we saw young Carell, young Colbert on stage together.

Wow. Yeah.

And so that's all I wanted to do. So that was post-college. That was waiting tables at the Twisted Lizard and There was that weird thing of you just kind of improvised. I was doing stuff at Improv-Olympic, now called IO, but waiting for that sort of biannual audition where everybody would go in and audition for Second City. But that's all I was looking at was that.

Right.

And we will be right back.

And now back to the show.

So, you saw those guys, like Carell and those guys, when you went, as you said, with your dad. And then once you got to ImprovOlympic post-college, who were the people— 'cause there's so many different classes of people who were kind of in and around. So many names we all know, you included, who came through that Chicago thing. Who were the people who were sort of your contemporaries at the time?

Well, it's so nuts because it was genuinely— I was present during a scene Like, I'm not being part of it, but it was like, oh, this is what, like, a scene is like.

Right.

Where everybody— you knew you were in the right place because there had been this wave of people were just leaving, you know, like Brian Stack and Brian McCann, like, to go do Conan stuff, Dorf. So they were the slightly older. And then there was, you know, John Glaser. And then there was, you know, Tina and Amy and Horatio and Dratch. So that was— all the people that you would either go see at Second City, or sometimes they would just pop in to Improv-Olympic. You guys know that game, The Dream, where you bring somebody up and you ask them about their day, and then you improvise a dream about it. I remember just once being in the audience. The first time I talked to Amy, she was— she brought me onstage and she asked me about my day.

No way.

And then that— like, her cohort did a— basically improvised, you know, a sketch about what my dream would be based on the day I had. So it was really amazing to feel very confident, not in myself, how it was gonna turn out, but very confident this is the right place to be at this moment if you wanna be in comedy.

But did that— did the confidence you feel about, well, I kinda would like to do this more than your film goals, did you go all in on that as far as what your career and path to making a living would be? Or were you studying something else simultaneously to, you know, mitigate your risk?

You know, I got— immediately my takeaway on film class was, oh my God, this is so scientific. And I don't think I have the— you know, where I just don't think I have the attention span for this and the amount of lighting and, you know, the 180-degree rule and lenses. I was like, whoa, this is a snooze.

Right.

And so I started— there was a creative writing for the media sort of submajor, and I was doing that. But, you know, half— I would say most of those people, as soon as they graduated, went out to LA. They wrote spec scripts and they went to LA where, you know, Sean, you know, there's a ton of Northwestern people out there.

Yeah, there's a million.

And certainly, you know, when I graduated in the mid-'90s, like, there was just this, you know, Northwestern mafia out there. And so there were plenty of connections, but by the time I graduated, I wanted to improvise and do comedy more than I wanted to make or write.

But you had no backup career aside from— I mean, you were confident that the entertainment industry was gonna be something you were gonna be able to make a living in?

No backup, correct. I got a weird— I got a weird job, like a weird early tech job right out of college where I worked for 2 months for a friend of mine who had started a— it was— the idea was it was a— you would get free minutes for your phone, long distance, but you would have to listen to a commercial before you placed an ad. I'm sorry, before you placed a call. It's not a bad idea. Like, it's basically like what texting is now.

Wait a second.

Keep selling me.

Keep selling me.

Yeah.

So you're interested. But I worked for 2 months there. I was like the 7th hire. And I remember he came in one day, he's like, so nobody thinks you want to be here.

Uh-oh.

And I was like, you know what? I don't. And he's like, yeah, that's kind of what we thought. But they— I will say I had really— my friend group at Northwestern, which were not all comedy or theater people, they were all really supportive. Everybody was like, yeah, I mean, don't— you should just try that. That's all you seem to be interested in.

But you know what it brings up? I was having this conversation with a friend with somebody the other day, which was like, I think, you know, every once in a while, somebody will call you and say, like, hey, my son is graduating college, or they're trying to get into entertainment. Can they call you? We've all had those calls or received them.

All the time.

Yeah.

Right? And so you end up talking to people, and I always think, like, there's no— what kind of advice can you give somebody? There's really no plan for it. It's not like law school where you say, finish law school here, and then try to go and work for— so there's no plan. But I remember the other day, I was saying to somebody, like, you kind of can't have a backup plan.

Yes.

You have to be all in. It has to be— that's the risk, is the thing. And it's because when you don't have anything to fall back on, it forces you to try to do whatever you can to get a job. And you're not going to hit necessarily— it's very rare that somebody hits it out of the park on their first job. And you're going to take a lot of shit jobs, and you're going to do— I don't know, work background, or you're gonna do whatever it is that you're gonna do, but you have to be all in, I think.

It is nice, though, that pursuing the entertainment industry at its early stage does lend itself to the schedule whereby you can hold down a job that can pay your rent and feed you, you know, à la waiting tables or whatever it is. That's your helper.

Right. But it is like that— I think when people talk about a plan B, you realize, you know, like, you can have a plan D.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, right?

Which is like waiting tables. But like, when you talk about a plan B, And B, like, what are you talking about? Because, you know, ultimately anybody whose plan A is your plan B is gonna be so far ahead of you by the time you decide, like, that's what you wanna do.

Yes.

It is, I mean, man, it is so nice to hear you say that, Will, because I, the amount I feel like I am wasting everyone's time when they sit you down or get you on the phone with somebody who wants to talk about this business, and the only thing you could say is like, is if you, you have to only wanna do it.

Yes.

Like, that's the only way. If you're on the fence about like this and med school, I'd go to med school.

Yes.

Right, right.

You know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, don't look at me. I hopped— I pasted this thing together with Scotch tape and rubber bands to get here. Yeah, I don't know how, you know.

And what was Seth— what was Josh doing at this? Was he, was he kind of like on a similar track?

Yeah, so the exact same track. It's also Northwestern, also Meow. And then I had gotten—

He's 2 years, 3 years younger?

2 years behind me in school. Yeah, 2 years exactly. And, uh, we So then I got hired for this job in Amsterdam called Boom Chicago. So these Chicago guys, Northwestern guys, started basically a Second City-type theater in Amsterdam. And that was a thing I would never have done on my own. Sean's co-star, Peter Gross.

Peter Gross, one of the funniest people alive.

On Broadway in Good Night, Oscar.

Yes.

He was my friend, and he was— we had done improv together. We were improvising in Chicago together, and he was the one who said, hey, there's this theater in Amsterdam, and they're having auditions. And I, just to this day, am so lucky to have had a friend who was willing to take a big swing like that, because I never would have even gone to that audition. But the fact that I had a friend who was down for that kind of adventure, and we both auditioned for that, and then we both ended up moving to Amsterdam. I was there for 2 years.

Am I right? Did Sudeikis go to Boom Chicago after you? Is that right?

Yeah. So, Sudeikis, it was a crazy— I mean, that was another time where I felt that thing of, like, being—

I feel like we had another guest on this show that went to Amsterdam. Yeah.

I mean, it could have been Sudeikis, Jordan Peele, Ike Barinholtz.

Oh, I think it was Ike.

Oh, yeah.

That's right.

It was Ike.

It was Ike.

And, uh, but it was another time where you're like, oh, we're, we're part of a scene. Like, you just— where you look around and you're like, this is the place. to be right now. And the hardest part about leaving to go do it was there was this idea that you were in line in Chicago. Whether you were or you weren't, you thought like, oh my God, you know, I'm just gonna spend 6 months getting closer to the kind of person that they'll hire for Second City, and then I'll be a part of that organization. And so the risk we all had to do was leave and go do this show in Amsterdam. But once you got there, you were performing way more than you would in Chicago. and you were living in fucking Amsterdam, and it was incredible. It was just the best time.

Because it's about time onstage. You need to have the hours. And we're getting to—

Yeah.

And so, Lauren, by the way, Lauren— the reason I was in London was, you know, they started asking. And I had dinner with Lauren, and Lauren wanted me to go over there just to, like— it was before the show started, just to, like, sort of sit and talk to them. And he goes, you know what? I think you're the right one because you know Amsterdam. And I'm like, from 25 years ago? But also, Lorne, they don't even use the same money as when I lived there.

But by the way, but by the way, what's kind of sweet about it is, is that he has these associations. He remembers that you came out of Amsterdam. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Uh, and he, by the way, it— like, I think, like, the thing— Lorne is so— he gives way too much credit to, uh, living abroad and, uh, athletes.

Sure.

Like, the amount of people who would audition for the show, give, like, the flattest audition, and Lorne would be like, Like, you know, he played college baseball, so you know he'll get it.

Why?

But then, so Seth, so if, if, if, if everything went perfectly and one got recruited to Second City, is, is the, is the next logical, you know, home run step after Second City Saturday Night Live? Is that, was, is that the trajectory?

So that was the, that was the observable pipeline from the people that were, you know, so in, I mean, it was Jerry Minor, You know, before that was Tim Meadows, but I didn't really know him. But like Jerry Minor, Horatio Dratch, Tina. And then you just sort of thought like this— Adam McKay, you know, had gone there. And so that is, I think, why everybody wanted to be at Second City.

Right.

And so then I spent 2 years in Amsterdam. I came back. Once again, my expectation was I'll get back in line. You know, maybe it's the end of the line, but this is still what I want. And then I had this crazy— stroke of good fortune, which is this woman, Ayelet Cohen, who worked in the SNL talent department, came to this tiny little improv festival where my partner and I were doing our 2-person show. And basically, I got to audition for SNL based off that. And that's ultimately how—

And did you have any— were you in any sports that Lorne recognized?

I mean—

Did you play sports or no?

No.

No?

Okay.

All right.

I desperately wanted to, and it was not to be.

Talk to me about how you became more interested, uh, motivated, fulfilled, I'm assuming, with the writing track as opposed to the performing track? When did that start to take hold?

Well, I mean, I would love to tell you that it was my, uh, instinct, but I, I think ultimately— and again, it worked out career-wise, so no regrets.

Sure.

Lorne made a mistake and should have hired me as a writer from the beginning. He hired me, he hired me as a cast member, And I was then— I mean, again, I was just— it was a huge struggle for me to find purchase. And it only got worse. I mean, it was fine to be like, all right, you know, I'm not obviously, you know, Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan, Chris Kattan, you know, the people who were in the cast older than me.

Right.

Like, nobody expected me to be better than them. But then, you know, the next wave of people that came in, you know, then it's like Sudeikis, Hayden, Fred and Will, Bill and Andy, and you're like, oh, no. Like, they're like the younger cast members, but they're demonstrably better at sketch comedy than I am. And so I was sort of writing— I always loved writing, but at the time, I was writing to stay alive more than anything else.

Writing for yourself.

Writing for myself. But Shoemaker, Mike Shoemaker, the producer on the show, he was— he gave great advice where he's like, look, what you should do is you should try to think of group scenes where you can score, but it's not like a Seth sketch, you know? It's a— it's 5 people, and it will get on the show, and you will, you know, have a fifth of the laughs, but that'll be better than you— you know, I was— 'cause early on, I would write things that were good enough to get to dress, but then I didn't have the, I don't know, the charisma or skill to carry it. So I was getting so many things cut at dress on the— you know, again, it was an accomplishment to make it to dress, but then it just felt like a failure.

That's— first of all, Well, it's great that you had Shu. And obviously, I want to get into— you guys have managed to have an incredible sort of partnership, if you will, going forward. And that he gave you that advice at that time. And I want to get into that. But first, I want to know, what's your favorite sketch that got cut at dress that never made it to air that you, to this day, you're like, this would've killed it? Do you have one?

I don't know. I mean, I remember— 'cause we did this thing, we started doing this thing at our show called Second Chance Theater, where we would do sketches that had gotten cut. at SNL, and then we would mount them on Late Night. But they were usually, like, crazy Forte sketches, Sudeikis sketches, Will Ferrell. We did the Gabe Kaplan/Will Ferrell sketch, which I'm sure you, at some point, Will, have seen the dress of. And I remember one time Schumacher was like, we should do one of yours. And I was— the only thing I liked about it was it was the beginning of a holiday ad, which was like, what do you get for a man who has everything? A second penis. And then it was just— and it was always— I took it, like, basically submitted it at all 3 December shows for, like, my first 5 years on the show. And, uh, never once, uh, went— 'cause it just ultimately— and I remember Shoemaker was like, we should do it. And then I got a copy of it, and Shoemaker read it. He's like, I actually don't think we should even do it.

Wait, wait, wait.

What was the thing that always made it a non-candidate?

I just think it got— it immediately became— no, it wasn't too graphic. It was too much a sketch about a sketch, where it was about how it was just the actual apparatus that the set was, um— Was clumsy. It was about how it was like— it was a clumsy strap device. Which is amazing. And they were— and they were— I remember Parnell was the host of it, and there were 3 testimonials. And at the end he goes, so it seems like— he goes, so 1 for, 1 against, and 1 in the middle. They couldn't even get 3 strong testimonies.

I mean, can we just— can we just sideline and say how great Chris Parnell is?

He's so great.

He is world-class. That dude. Fuck me, man.

Well, there was— again, when I— I was so lucky to be a writer at a time on that show where just the toolbox was nuts. You know? And I think, like, certainly people who wrote for Phil Hartman had that same thing, but Chris Parnell was just a metronomic delivery system for information that he would do in a way that it felt like as though there was no— it was so dry, that it became hilarious. But there was no effort, or certainly no observable effort that he was reaching for the laugh. He would just kind of get it.

He says— I always remember, anytime I think of Parnell now, I think of that scene. There's a scene in 30 Rock where he plays that doctor, Spicheman. And we were doing this scene, and he goes— and they go, he's gotta give somebody a shot. And he goes, okay. He takes the needle out, and he goes, okay. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Revolted at the idea of giving somebody a shot. And nobody else could do it. It was just amazing. So that's— man. So then you— so, Shoemaker's like, all right, you gotta start writing. You gotta start doing this stuff. And then you start writing more, and then Update happens. There's a kind of a swift— there's an empty chair. Tina leaves.

Yes.

And to do 30 Rock. And the big thing is, who's gonna take over? The seat.

Yes. Well, it was the second time it had happened, right? Because first, Jimmy had left.

Oh, yes.

And, you know, in my head, I always— if there was anybody at SNL whose path I thought I could maybe try to follow, it was Tina's, right? I always saw— I was like, oh, that's somebody who is a really good writer and also a good performer. But, you know what I mean? Like, she built her way to performer on the strength of her writing. And so, whereas, you know, again, when you're next to Will Ferrell or Amy, and there's just this charisma coming out of their pores that, like, is not available to you. You're like, all right, we're gonna write our way into this. With that said, when, you know, Loren decided to go with Amy and Tina, it wasn't like I thought he had made a bad choice. You know, my best chance was that Amy didn't want to do it.

Yeah.

I wasn't like, what are they thinking? And so— but then, yeah, when it was, you know, when it was Amy in an open chair and, uh... My recollection of it was, it was the end of that year. And so I had done one year where Lorne had promoted me to writing supervisor. So he had taken me as a cast member. And I think at this point he was admitting his mistake. He's like, I'd love you to, you know, basically, 'cause Tina was gone a lot that year working on—

Amsterdam notwithstanding, I think them—

You know, I think, you know, in Amsterdam they like clowns.

You know what, though? You were so great on Update. I remember when Wig and Armisen played those 2 characters where they're singers and they make albums, but of course they're improvising.

Yeah, Garth and Cat.

Yeah, Garth and Cat. And they're singing, making it up in the moment, clearly. And you got as big of laughs as they did asking the dumbest, obvious questions. And it's hard to do that. And you just so excelled at that. I thought it was hilarious.

Thank you. It is— to this day, they always would— they would ask to sing another song, and they would say, please, Mr. Miners. They kept calling me Mr. Miners. And my wife will still say— will refer to me as Mr.

Miners when she wants me to do something. Knowing how well you guys all knew each other, and knowing how legitimately you were authentically delighted by so many of those players, watching other people come up— you and Amy doing Update was phenomenal. in and of itself, but watching how delighted you would be when Fred would come out or Wig, and watching you be legit— You know when people say, are they faking laughing? No, no, no, no. Seth can't control himself 'cause Fred is killing him right now. Right?

And they're killing each other.

And just Fred— Well, Fred and Wig and Bobby Moynihan, they also— So just never, by the way, never tanked dress. They just always saved like 3 moves for air, which is—

Yeah, no, that's cool.

I would never have the confidence to not give, like, press so hard at dress. Whereas they're like, I've got it. Like, I'm not gonna do it all now. It was interesting though, because when Amy left, you know, and I was doing it alone, my initial instinct, which is a bad one, 'Cause all Update guests are doing a bad job executing what you, the anchor, tell the audience they're gonna do. For example, like, Stefan, the city correspondent, was a terrible city correspondent.

Right.

And so my first instinct as an actor was to be frustrated and mad.

Right.

And again, not to continue to give him the credit he deserves, but Shoemaker was like, I think the audience doesn't like that you don't care.

Right.

You know, he was basically like, I think just— I think you should try to play this as sort of patient and delighted. And it was such a good note because, of course, that, you know, to sort of confirm what you're saying, Will, like, I was delighted. So, like, why hide it from the audience? Like, it just seemed like, you know, this— 'Cause again, I think maybe just from, like— I don't know what it was, like, what comedy you watched growing up, but, like, there's that straight man thing of, like, now you hold on here. You were supposed to be talking about the city! You know? And that's just, like, not joyful to do or watch.

Right, right, right.

We'll be right back.

And back to the show.

When Amy left, uh, in, in, uh, 'cause she chose our son over you, when she— when Archie was born—

He's a fine young man.

He's a fine young man.

And you know what? He's a fine young man, and I'm, I'm finally willing to concede The right choice.

It's almost 18 years. But, uh, and he's— by the way, he's still asleep. He's in the other— he's in his room right now. He's still asleep.

Aww.

Yeah, yeah. But when you were now on the desk by yourself, what was that like, that first time? Do you remember that first show being out there?

Well, I mean, because the first time was crazy, 'cause it didn't— wasn't Archie born on a Friday night?

Oh, well, of course. Yeah, of course. Of course.

Yeah.

No, you did that— you did that night by yourself.

That— I think Saturday morning I woke up from a text from Amy being like, so—

She was in labor Saturday morning.

You're on your own. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was like, you're on your own. And, uh, I— but it was crazy. And it was also not the most confident I've ever felt Lorne was.

Oh, no.

Lorne had a lot of ideas of like, but what if you did it with this person just for tonight? And, uh, and I'm not— I will say I'm not someone who, uh, advocates particularly well, uh, for myself, uh, but that was— I remember just saying, I really— I think if you don't let me do it alone tonight, you're the— it will just look like you don't think I can do it alone.

Right.

Aha, right, right.

And the eyes were on you. You guys had had because it was the presidential race that year.

It had been—

you guys were every week crushing it.

Well, I think maybe the— I mean, the last— probably just based on, uh, I remember, uh, you know, her silhouette, it must have been her last update before Archie was the rap to Sarah Palin, right? Yeah. So that's— so it is also— I mean, I do— I get that Lorne is like, so here's the thing. You going out alone without the woman who just hardcore rapped to Sarah Palin, like, 9 and a half months pregnant? Like, I think he was looking out for me, like, genuinely. Like, he was like, Like, I don't think it was— he was probably like, let's just try to, like, give you a little help out there. But I think ultimately what we— and what ultimately my era of solo hosting Update was, was let's just do a lot of features. You know what I mean? Like, 4 jokes, Fred. 4 jokes.

I will tell you something. I'll tell you something really cool too, which— well, not— but I think it's cool, is we— of course, you know this very well because you were texting in contact— Amy and Archie and I, and he watched that episode. live from the hospital.

That was the first show Archie ever saw.

It was incredible, man. And it was very emotional for her and for you guys and for us and for me. And Maya sang that song.

Yeah, Keenan and Maya. Titi and Mario, which was the first time with you, Jason. That was— Titi and Mario were the soul singers. He doesn't remember. I'm gonna help him. You and Amy, you're on, like, a bearskin rug in front of—

Oh, yes.

We're selling bearskins. like a cake— cake dough.

On the show. On the show. Not the time you guys went away to talk.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, you almost stepped in it. I did not lead you down a helpful path. Um, that was— they— we sing those songs all the time, uh, which is— they were very short, very inappropriate soul songs. They were kind of like an Ashford and Simpson. And one of the songs, the entirety of one of the songs was, let me put it in a little bit, just the tip.

Yeah, just the tip.

They were very short songs.

Oh, yeah, and then like a—

like—

like a smash zoom with the camera. Just a tab, like right in on their face. Yeah, I remember that.

Shaky, shaky camera. But that was, uh, so Titi Amaro, where, where, uh, sang, uh, yeah, sang a song to Archie.

To Archie. Yeah, it was amazing.

That's so cool.

So, so, but then you go— so then now you're on your own, and, and you end up— and however you got it off the ground really well is, you know, behind the scenes, Lauren, you, as you said, was maybe a little bit nervous and whatever. We'll But you end up now, in a way, do you think that that prepared you for ultimately doing Late Night? Because you kind of grew in confidence. You handled it so well that the audience never sensed that. And I don't think that— and there's no— obviously, you and Amy were great together, but you really owned that era of doing it yourself, and you took that into Late Night. Do you feel like that experience helped you?

I think it— I mean, I think it helped people see me as somebody who could do late night, which is ultimately, like, the bigger problem as far as the jobs we want, is you need the people who give those jobs out to see it.

Yeah.

And, uh, so that was, uh, great. But again, I had no idea—

No one wants to go first.

Yeah. And, uh, and by the way, I owe great credit to the fact that it worked for— that Jimmy made it work, uh, late night, because I think, you know, ultimately, the complete lack of originality in late night network thinking led them to like, what if that's the other update guy?

Did Conan precede Fallon?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. But it was Conan and Jimmy and then— and then it was Jay, Conan, and Jimmy, and then it was Jay and Jimmy. Right, right, right. It was a lot of— it was a fun time.

But how many years have you done The Late Show?

Like 12.

Wow.

It started in 2014.

Yeah, 2014.

February will be 12 years. No, February will be 13.

Yeah.

It's nuts. But it was— I will say a lot of the Update stuff actually, I think, worked against figuring out the show because of, you know, one thing was so much of Update was about me and the best cast, one of the best casts in the history of SNL. And then you're just like, now it's you without any of that. And—

But maybe without the cast, but— and we go back to Shoemaker, a guy who had worked closely with you in the writing process, who, first of all, had encouraged you.

Yes.

And then you guys really partnered, and you guys went and did it together. You had a really great team. great, solid— you guys knew each other. That's such a cheat because often I think when you start late night, not that I know, you're really— you're hoping it works out. You're hoping the dynamic works out. You guys had years of working together.

We had a shorthand. We had an agreement about what I was good at and what I hadn't been good at. And we had also been there together while I had tried all the stuff that had not worked about, like, I'm going to be a regular sketch sketch cast player on SNL. And we'd kind of watched that fail to, you know, bear any fruit. And so— but the thing that frustrates me so much, and I say this with love, I remember Lorne said, it'll take you 18 months to figure it out. And I had the confidence to be like, it's not gonna take me 18 months. And then 18 months into the show is when I was like, I'm gonna stop doing a standing monologue and I'm gonna start the show at the desk.

Wow.

And I remember I didn't even realize it had been 18 months. But the minute I did that, I'm like, oh, this is it. And then I'm like, Oh, fuck. He was right.

Then, so, but on SNL, were you— how much of the— weren't you— you were leading the writing process, were you not? Were you head writer either in name or in practicality?

I was head writer. I was head writer for basically the end of my run on the show. Like, I was update and head writer. And I will say to this day, like, probably the title, if it's not too silly to be proud of titles. The thing I'm proudest of is the fact that I was the head writer on SNL.

Yeah.

As you should be.

And, uh, but again, like, it's— you mostly, you know, the hardest or the most utile I was is bringing notes from Lorne to the writing staff. Like, I worked— that writing staff would have been fine without me.

Right.

They were just absolute top-to-bottom bangers. It was an incredible group of people.

You then basically, obviously by default and title, become head writer on your own show. show. Um, and how— compare those, those 2, um, workloads, uh, positions, levels of responsibility.

So it's actually, uh, Alex Baize, who was the head writer at Weekend Update, was the one person I poached, uh, when I left. And the one person— as soon as I got the job, the first thing, uh, Lorne said was, you can't have Baize. Like, even Lorne knew how good he was. He's, he's the greatest living joke writer. He's incredible. And so he's our head writer. And the job— I still do a ton of writing on my show, but I only rewrite. Like, so much of my time at SNL was that, like, open on, you know, like the worst part of writing, just blank page. And like, I remember Jost in his office, like, had a— to this day, I'll go in 'cause it's my old office, and he has the names of all the cast, like, just printed, just like— and that thing of, like, sometimes you just wanna look at names and hope that, like, just anything to get you started.

Right.

Like, who does what?

Right.

And so it is lovely to have transitioned to a part of my career where I'm rewriting more than writing.

Gotcha.

Because, I mean, I went— I think I went back and hosted in 2017. I'd only been gone 3 years. And I had this, you know, grand plan. I'm like, I'm gonna get back, I'm gonna crack my knuckles, write a couple of old-school sketches. And I just— it felt like somebody trying to— remember when Mark Spitz came back and tried to swim in the Olympics? And you saw, like, a picture of him and you're like, he still looks good. And then he just got in the pool and you're like, no, no. Like, that's how it felt.

The hours have got to be similar or better or worse.

No, no, no. This is unbelievable. My hours now compared to the SNL— I don't know—

Is better or worse? How—

so right now it's the best. I don't know how I could have had a family with SNL hours in the way that I do now. I mean, we tape our show at 4:00 in the afternoon, right? And we don't do a postmortem. Again, Shoemaker, his thing was like, like, look, we— if there's something you're mad about tomorrow, let's have a meeting. But if you go home, I bet you'll come in tomorrow and be more concerned about tonight's show. And you'll realize that with the thing you're mad about, everybody noticed that it went wrong, and nobody will want it to go wrong again. And ultimately, let's save ourselves, you know, 90 minutes.

That's so interesting.

Because again, you're just churning them out one after the other. And, uh, and not in a bad way. I don't mean that in a negative way, but it does really force you to look to the future and just try to slowly bring up—

But it is daily, right? Except— It is, yeah. Instead of weekly, even though the daily workload on SNL, from my limited view of it, does seem pretty rigorous. I would imagine on your show currently it is much more involved.

It's—

I mean, again, I get there first thing in the morning and I'm working the whole day. Like, there's no— There's no downtime, but it's not boring because it's all, you know, you're all churning towards this really exciting release. And, you know, the adrenaline rush of walking out into a studio where, you know, 180 people are there to watch it.

That's so cool.

Do you feel like you have to consciously, because it is daily and you do deal with, you know, topical things, do you feel the need to like, fuck, I gotta plow through every newspaper this morning. I need to be up on every—

Not really.

No.

I sometimes feel like I get my news from the first draft.

Yeah, right.

Uh, and I'm like, that's also fine. I mean, like, you know, again, like, it's not like I'm not, uh, looking at social media and scrolling through Twitter and seeing, like, what's happening in the world. So I'm not, like, caught flat-footed. But I don't, you know, I— on Sunday, do I, uh, you know, think it's important to watch, you know, a lot of the, you know, Sunday news shows? Um, yeah. But, like, I'm not— I don't feel like I'm some, you know, uh, uh, insatiable news junkie, uh, for the purpose of my show. Um, which is, which is nice.

You could always just call Bateman. You could just call Bateman.

Yeah, I'll plug you in.

Yeah.

Do you ever get, do you ever get tired of it though? I mean, do you ever get like, I need a break?

Uh, you know, uh, we're on, you know, uh, we're, we're talking during a hiatus. I think maybe when this airs we'll be back on. I can't wait to be back on. Like, genuinely, I love, uh, the people I work with. I, I also You know, it's a very— hopefully it's a cathartic show to watch, and it's very cathartic to do. So my mental health is a lot more locked in when I have the show as a way to sort of like, you know, anxiety dump.

What do you look forward to doing— sorry, Willie— on the— when you guys are powered down during the summer, what is the thing you look most forward to doing with the family each year? Is it just— is it like— is it travel? Is it doing nothing? Is it just playing house? We're, you know—

We got beach kids. I got a father-in-law with a boat. Highly recommend having a father-in-law with a boat. Just a little motorboat, just, you know, but that's a good thing to do with your kids. But in general, they're also, you know, they're 10, 8, and my daughter's almost 5. Just good company right now.

Yeah, such good ages.

For the first time where I'm really like, you know what, you're all a lot less boring Yeah.

And they're much more self-sufficient at that age, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that's the curse, right? Like, the minute they're not boring, they're like, hey, I'm meeting other people.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you watch a lot— historically, you've watched a lot of films. You watch a lot of shows. Like, you enjoy absorbing all sorts of art, if you will. What are the things— what's the thing that— and you watch a lot of sports. You say you don't play, but you do. You watch a ton of sports. sports. What's the thing— what is the thing that you do? Are you watching Below Deck like JB and me? Are you anything like that?

Widows Bay. That was my— the last show that I really loved.

Matthew Rhys is great.

Yeah, that dude's really good.

Uh, a very good dude. That's the last thing I feel like I—

Do you ever watch documentaries, like true crime documentaries?

Not with much, uh, consistency.

Yeah.

And then what is the go-to sport? Is it football? It's Steelers football?

It depends on— I will say, like, if you If your baseball team is any good, it's very fun in the summer to care about baseball. But I would say, like—

And what is your team? Sox?

The Red Sox. And then also, my dad's from Pittsburgh, so the Pirates to a smaller degree. And then, but the Steelers 100%. And, uh, and I, that, I do feel like I'm gearing up for that emotional roller coaster.

Yeah.

Not in a way that I'm excited.

I mean, are anybody, like, are you guys fans of sports teams outside of where you grew up?

Yeah.

No. Um, well, I mean, I'm a liberal, right? You didn't grow up in Boston, uh, Seth, right?

Well, New Hampshire is— you know, we got the Boston sports channel.

Fucking right next to it, dude.

It's like—

although I tell a story, like, uh, Peter, I was at a charity event once, and a Wahlberg— I won't say which one— he was like, uh, he was like, are you from Boston? And I said, I'm from New Hampshire. And he said, uh, so no? I was like, that is the perfect sort of provincial rudeness of someone who like gets the Boston Globe. I'm like, I'm within the window of the Boston Globe getting delivered.

Home delivery. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, could you imagine ever being called the, the New England Red Sox? I mean, that, that would give you an excuse then, right?

But they don't. Yeah, the New England Patriots do it, but it is— it's so funny because like I, again, uh, you know, I got my start in Chicago. Chicago totally owns me. My dad's from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh totally owns me. Boston, just kind of in the middle.

Never the Cubs?

You know what I mean?

Never the Cubs?

They're pretty agnostic. Never the Cubs.

Never the White Sox?

No.

And never the Bears? Right.

No.

Okay.

I just didn't care. I had a true love, and I didn't. I didn't need more.

Got it. Sure, sure. Uh, what do you think— I— everybody asks this all the time— what do you think is gonna happen in the Middle East? Well, don't get me started. Listen, the Strait of Hormuz is open, okay? By the way, in case you didn't know, it's open for business.

It's wide open.

And by the way, it doesn't matter how far we're, uh, recording this based on when it comes out. It's gonna stay open.

Yeah, still open. It's never been closed.

Last thing, what are the next 5 years for you? If you had to look, 'cause we were talking about like, what do you wanna do in the preamble, in our coffee chat, as JB calls it, where do you see it going? What do you wanna do?

What do you wanna be? I don't know. I would love to say in 5 years from now, I'm still doing late night. I have no— I'm not tired of it at all. I really, really enjoy it. But, you know, I do think more than maybe even the things I learned at SNL helped me figure out late night. Like, I think like what I've done at late night, will be stuff that will help me figure out a great many things. And ultimately, the problem or the fear I had leaving SNL was like, oh, I'm so worried my next job's going to be boring. And this one isn't. So I think the key is just to find something where you're just not bored.

Well, I don't think you have to worry. You've got a— you're a great comedy mind. You're a great mind. People love watching you, including me. You're super, super funny. And whatever you do—

You have a wonderful talent set.

Yeah, you're going to find—

This was so much fun.

And you've got no plan B. And you've got no plan B. No Plan B.

That's the good news. No Plan B. Not even. All these years later, not a Plan B.

So, so you're gonna be just fine.

Yeah.

Yeah. And hey, Jason, I know, I know you couldn't, but I can hear you.

Thank you.

Oh, wow.

Thank you. And you see me.

I can hear you.

And you see me.

Yeah, I can see you too.

Um, we love you, Seth Meyers.

Yes, we love you, Seth. Thank you for coming, dude.

What a delight.

Thank you for doing this.

All right, guys, I'll see you soon.

Thanks, Seth.

All right, bye.

Bye, Seth. Thank you.

The great Seth Meyers. He's so good.

You know what? You can tell he's a great writer and a great person of comedy just because of his natural wit. Like, he's so funny naturally, just speaking.

So witty. Well, I love— he's so conversational in his show, on his show. And as you said, and so witty. Yeah.

So fast.

Yeah.

Like crazy fast.

Facile. Yeah.

Facile. We've all done his show, right? We've all been on his show, and he's— I don't know how you do that every single day where you're just on, on, on, on, on, and he's so natural at it. Anyway, he's one of the best.

Yeah, he's super smooth, always so kind and gregarious, and he's just a—

So smart.

So smart. Yeah. He is a perfect host, for sure.

He really is.

God.

And I feel like— is that the first time he's been on this show?

Yeah, isn't that crazy?

What is the deal?

I don't know.

I don't know. And then I ran into him last year. We've been trying to put this together for almost a year, just with dates and stuff. And because I was like, how did we— how did we not—

Yeah, I mean, he was— he's definitely—

Oh, boy.

You know, he's definitely—

Why do I see you coming from around the corner every time? Like, he chokes the puppy. I think he literally grabs the microphone and gets an idea.

Sean, what is it?

Well, I just want to say, He wasn't on today by accident.

He was on today— wait, no, he wasn't on today.

Still rolling. Jesus H.

He was on today because he was purposefully on today. He wasn't on by accident.

I mean, less committal.

Will, you got anything?

No, I don't know. You know, I'm sorry, Sean, but I don't know.

don't bite.

Bye.

Bye.

There we go.

Bye.

Bye.

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