Podcast Summary

Podcast: Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers
Hosts: Seth Meyers & Josh Meyers
Episode: Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Sons Went Crazy Over The Abominable Snowman
Date: December 9, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

In this lively episode, Seth and Josh Meyers welcome iconic actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her sons Henry Hall and Charlie Hall for a heartfelt, hilarious conversation about the Hall-Louis-Dreyfus family’s most memorable and disaster-prone vacations. Together, they reminisce about chaotic Thanksgivings, adventures from Scotland to the Serengeti, sibling rivalries, celebrity encounters, and the infamous "Abominable Snowman" meltdown.
The episode shines as a celebration of family dynamics—how travel mishaps and traditions become legend, and how warmth, wit, and a little madness make for the best stories.

Episode Breakdown

1. Family Traditions & Pre-Guest Banter

[00:00–05:32]

• Seth and Josh chat about their own Thanksgiving routines, prepping for their annual family show, “fakesgiving” with friends, and family game nights.
• Observations on their parents’ evolving talk show chops—mom’s “barbs” and dad’s confidence.
• Set up: Julia and her sons are a dream “mom and two sons” combo for the podcast, all with deep ties to Northwestern (prompting plenty of college improv troupe “Meow” references).

Notable Quotes

• Seth: “We’ve had mother-daughter, married couples, sisters. This is a new combo for us. Maybe my favorite combo we’ve ever had...” (04:03)
• Josh: “When the mom is Julia Dreyfus, c’mon now.” (04:07)

2. The Dreyfus-Hall Musical Tastes & Family Dynamics

[05:54–13:44]

• Henry Hall composed the theme music for Julia’s podcast; the creative process is playful, with honest feedback.
• Musical DNA: Dad introduced the kids to The Smiths, Paul Simon, and above all, The Beatles (except Julia’s father and Seth’s father, who both oddly disliked the Beatles).
• Family art obsessions: Henry is as passionate about The Simpsons as his dad is about The Beatles.
• Grandfathers’ tough love approach; the merits of having one hyper-supportive and one brutally honest parent.

Notable Quotes

• Henry: “My dad knows as much about the Beatles as I do about the Simpsons, which is saying something.” (08:37)
• Julie: “My dad…thought [the Beatles] were not just bad, but awful.” (12:06)
• Seth: “It’s nice to have one of each: a mom who thinks everything you do is great, and a dad who only gives you credit for the very top tranche.” (12:52)

3. Julia’s Childhood Family Trips

[13:44–18:19]

• Grew up in NYC and DC; most trips were to “humid ski resorts in August” on the East Coast (“Trying not to get bitten by mosquitoes” and “trying to find boys”).
• Epic family trip to Scotland at 18—nonstop rain, culinary distress (“my sister needed to be hospitalized because she was so gaunt”), living only on “Cadbury vanilla ice creams with a chocolate stick.”
• Seth’s ill-fated Scottish castle auction: breezy, inedible food, and regrettable bidding.

Memorable Moment

• Julia: “We…went to ski resorts in the humid month of August. …Another activity was just trying to find boys, which I never seemed to find.” (14:30, 15:57)

4. Disaster Thanksgivings & “The Sick Family”

[19:06–22:48]

• Thanksgiving in DC: family-wide illness, gelatinous gravy, undercooked turkey, toddler cousin with an epic “accident” that led to a comical but traumatic clean-up scene.
• Henry jokes his dad “still carries [him] like that to this today.”
• Parallel with Meyers family core “just the four of us” vacations.
• Safari in Tanzania: leader warns “no running—you are prey.” Both boys sick by midway (“We carry around a plague wherever we go.”)

Notable Quotes

• Julie: “It felt like a bomb had gone off…He’s taking her across the room, and she’s like, this, terrified.” (20:26)
• Henry: "We carry around a plague wherever we go." (22:56)

5. Road Trips, Sibling Rivalry, and “Lighthouse College”

[30:02–33:38]

• Family road trips were rare (“Yosemite was a drive!”).
• Henry and Charlie’s five-year age gap: little tolerance when teens, but close now.
• “Lighthouse College” home game: Henry as mean wrestling coach, brotherly roughhousing channeled into elaborate imaginary university lore.
• Julia’s dry wit: “We shouldn’t have had Charlie.” (jokes about second-child trauma).

Memorable Moment

• Henry: “The funding at Lighthouse College was really thin…most of the professors had two jobs.” (32:35)
• Julie: “To be honest, we shouldn’t have had Charlie.” (33:29)

6. Surf Trips & Competitive Brothers

[33:44–38:25]

• Henry just returned from a surf trip in Indonesia with dad; it’s their favorite “father-son time.”
• Charlie’s self-assessment: “I’m too tall for surfing” and too competitive to lose, so “I did the math… and went, basketball.”
• Julie never surfs, but supports from the sidelines and admits being “terrified” when she’s tried.

Notable Quotes

• Charlie: “I just think my center of gravity is too high. I’ll just…” (37:17)
• Henry: “Charlie is highly competitive… He did the math in his tiny brain. And he went, basketball.” (37:47)

7. Travel Mishaps: Tarantula Nightmares & Jungle Dangers

[39:00–43:41]

• Jungle in Peru—worry about “fish that swim up your urethra,” constant warnings to boys.
• Encounter with a massive “pink toe tarantula” that landed on Brad’s back; quick, shirt-ripping response averts disaster.
• Julia: “If a pink toe tarantula bites you, it can cause impotence.” Endless family jokes about the abundance of private-parts-related travel threats.

Memorable Moment

• Julie: “If a pink toe tarantula does bite you, it can cause impotence.” (42:34)
• Josh: “A lot of dick stuff.” (42:40)

8. Special Family Moments: Meeting LeBron, Mother’s Day Surprises, and Basketball Mania

[43:47–52:46]

• Hall brothers once surprised Julia in NYC for Mother’s Day (“I kept yelling 'Mom!' outside the door so I didn’t scare you!”).
• Julia took the boys to Portland to see LeBron James (“I would die for LeBron,” Charlie admits).
• The boys nearly missed a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet LeBron due to nerves; dad Brad rallies them to seize the moment.
• Henry and Charlie deeply invested in college basketball, including Northwestern’s historic run (“We are trying to do this!”).

Notable Quotes

• Charlie: “I love LeBron in a way that’s certainly unhealthy. No question about it… The moment was too big for me.” (46:33–46:58)
• Charlie, about Northwestern’s victory: “That game… was the game where we realized that we were actually good.” (50:10)

9. Holiday Chaos: Thanksgiving and the Core Four

[57:23–61:22]

• Thanksgivings sometimes feature 24 guests, with “Granny” at a mafia-style round table (“Godfather situation”).
• Julia confesses: “I’m not a huge fan of Thanksgiving—so much work for a 15-minute meal.”
• Notorious “sneeze on the pumpkin pie” incident: after a disastrous Thanksgiving, young cousin “covers” the one perfect pie (“You’ve never seen adults more mad at a six-year-old.”)

Notable Quotes

• Julie: “I’m not a huge fan of Thanksgiving. It’s an enormous amount of work for what is probably about a 15-to-20-minute meal.” (59:41, 60:28)
• Henry: "He sneezes all over the pie. Snot on the pie." (62:04)

10. The Legendary “Abominable Snowman” Meltdown

[64:32–67:34]

• Y2K New Year’s story: after being denied staying up to midnight, tired 7-year-old Henry erupts in rage after his dad dismisses belief in the “Abominable Snowman”—threatening “I’m gonna kill you," sending toddler Charlie into a scream of “Don’t kill my daddy!”
• Julia, helpless and hysterically laughing, relives family’s greatest meltdown.

Notable Quote

• Julia: “Henry goes, ‘Don’t… I believe in the Abominable Snowman, Daddy…and that means you think I’m crazy. I’m gonna kill you.’ He starts screaming. At which point, Charlie…starts to scream hysterically, ‘Don’t kill my daddy!’…It was the worst New Years of our life.” (66:49–67:34)

11. Speed Round & Closing Laughs

[69:08–76:16]

• Vacation preferences: Henry and Julie pick “adventurous,” Charlie chooses “relaxing.”
• All cite “feet” as favorite transportation (with some flip-flopping for effect).
• Imaginary family trips: Julia, "the Simpsons;" Henry, "the Griffins," Charlie, "Coach Taylor’s family from Friday Night Lights."
• Stranded on a desert island: mutual rejections and motherly revenge (“So fuck you guys… I’m going with my sister Lauren.” (72:40)
• Infamous NYC dog poop era revisited; Julia pitches the city as having “less dog shit now than when I was little.”

Memorable Moments

• Julie: “Can I redo my pitch for New York? There’s less dog shit now than there was when I was little. I think that’s a selling point.” (74:46–75:01)
• Josh: “It’s sort of like people smoking and then just throwing their cigarette butts on the ground that…”
• Seth (riffing): “It looks like a cupcake with a birthday candle.” (75:47–75:54)

Standout Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We went to ski resorts in the humid month of August… Another activity was just trying to find boys, which I never seemed to find.”
  — Julia Louis-Dreyfus (14:06–15:57)

• “We carry around a plague wherever we go.”
  — Henry Hall (22:56)

• "If a pink toe tarantula does bite you, it can cause impotence."
  — Julie Louis-Dreyfus (42:34)

• “I love LeBron in a way that’s certainly unhealthy. No question about it… The moment was too big for me.”
  — Charlie Hall (46:33–46:58)

• “Henry goes, ‘Don’t… I believe in the Abominable Snowman, Daddy…and that means you think I’m crazy. I’m gonna kill you.’ He starts screaming. At which point, Charlie…starts to scream hysterically, ‘Don’t kill my daddy!’”
  — Julia Louis-Dreyfus (66:49–67:34)

• “So fuck you guys. I’m going with my sister Lauren.”
  — Julia Louis-Dreyfus (72:40)

• “Can I redo my pitch for New York? There’s less dog shit now than there was when I was little.”
  — Julia Louis-Dreyfus (74:46–75:01)

Engagement & Tone

The tone is witty, playful, and unvarnished—with the Meyers brothers riffing and improvising alongside Julia and her sons, whose own dry humor and sibling energy fit perfectly. Julia’s candor, especially about parenting now-grown sons and enduring holiday chaos, keeps the conversation both relatable and riotous.

If you love family lore, generational gags, or just want to feel better about your own vacation disasters, this episode delivers warmth and laughter in abundance.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Family traditions & intro banter: [00:00–05:32]
• Musical DNA, creativity, and The Beatles: [05:54–13:44]
• Julia’s family vacations & Scotland mishap: [13:44–18:19]
• Sickly Thanksgivings & safari woes: [19:06–22:48]
• Sibling rivalry & the saga of Lighthouse College: [30:02–33:38]
• Surf trips and Hall family competitiveness: [33:44–38:25]
• Peru adventure—tarantula panic!: [39:00–43:41]
• Meeting LeBron & basketball mania: [43:47–52:46]
• Thanksgiving mayhem (“snot on the pie”): [61:25–62:22]
• “Abominable Snowman” meltdown: [64:32–67:34]
• Lightning round & closing hijinks: [69:08–76:16]

Closing

The Hall-Louis-Dreyfus clan proves that the best family trips are dictated not by flawless execution, but by togetherness, humor, and the willingness to turn any disaster into a cherished story.

End of Summary