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- [00:01]
Kara Swisher
Support for the show comes from Crucible Moments, a podcast from Sequoia Capital. What is a Crucible Moment? It's a turning point where we face a tough decision and our response can shape the rest of our lives. These decisions happen in business too, and Sequoia Capital's podcast Crucible Moments gives you a behind the scenes look, asking founders of some of the world's most important tech companies like YouTube, DoorDash, Reddit, and more, to reflect on those critical junctures that defined who they are today. Tune into Season two of Crucible Moments today. You can also catch up on Season one at cruciblemoments or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [00:38]
Seth Meyers
Support for the show comes from the new season of Crucible Moments, a podcast from Sequoia Capital. What is a Crucible Moment? It's a turning point where we face a tough decision and our response can shape the rest of our lives. These decisions happen in business too, and Sequoia Capital's podcast Crucible Moments gives you a behind the scenes look asking founders of some of the world's most important tech companies like YouTube, DoorDash, Reddit, and more, to reflect on those critical junctures that defined who they are today. Tune into Season two of Crucible Moments today. You can also catch up on season one at cruciblemoments.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [01:22]
Kara Swisher
Support for this podcast comes from several nines. The cloud services model we've been sold is in rough shape, out of control costs, disruptive outages and unacceptable vendor concentration. Sovereign DBaaS can help with that. It gives enterprises the ability to deploy and orchestrate databases in public, private and hybrid environments, removing lock in risks and giving it ops teams the orchestration benefits at scale that they used to get from traditional dbaas, but without its workload, portability and access trade offs. Learn more@ several nines.com Cara.
- [02:01]
Seth Meyers
It'S on.
- [02:13]
Kara Swisher
Hi everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is on with Kara Swisher and I'm Kara Swisher. My guest today is SNL veteran and late night host Seth Meyers. Myers is the host of NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers, a seat he's held for 10 years now. During his tenure on Saturday Night Live, Myers starred alongside a range of talent like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig. Not only did Myers appear on the show for 13 seasons, but he was also head writer for nine seasons. He has received over 30 Emmy nominations over his career. He's a best selling author and he's the executive producer of a portfolio of comedy programs. He's also a really nice guy, actually. I've gotten to know him over the past couple of years. Beyond TV, Seth also continues to do standup. In 2019, he did a Netflix special called Lobby Baby. And now he has a new special called dad Man Walking that premieres on HBO on max this Saturday, October 26th. Seth Seth also hosts two podcast, of course, inevitably drops his late night show in pod form and formerly hosted the short lived Strike Force 5 pod during the Hollywood strikes last summer with a range of other late night talk show hosts. Our expert question comes from another late night icon, also turned podcaster, Sam B. I have plenty to talk about with Seth, the future of late night, his venture into podcasting, and of course, his latest special. So let's get to it.
- [03:46]
Seth Meyers
It is on.
- [03:49]
Kara Swisher
Hi Seth and welcome. Thanks for being on On.
- [03:53]
Seth Meyers
It's so wonderful to be on on. Thank you.
- [03:54]
Kara Swisher
I know we've seen each other a bunch of times this year.
- [03:57]
Seth Meyers
We have. We did a book festival and people are still buzzing about it.
- [03:59]
Kara Swisher
We did. Why is that? That was something. We had something going on there.
- [04:03]
Seth Meyers
Well, it's very. I was supposed to interview you and it will come as no surprise to your listeners that you just kept trying to turn the tables.
- [04:09]
Kara Swisher
I did, I did. Anyway, because one of the things I did is I met your kids there and your wife and so had a little bit of insight into dad Man Walking. It's your new standup special. It's on HBO and Max this weekend. It's kind of a follow upper sibling, if you will, to the 2019 stand up special, Lobby Baby.
- [04:29]
Seth Meyers
I think that's a good way of putting it.
- [04:30]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, I think Sibling, they're both about parenting and life and Lobby Baby's about your son who was born in a lobby. And you have a great bit about how they met the president and their differences. But let's just quickly play a clip from Dadman Walking so people can get a sense of it.
- [04:47]
Seth Meyers
It's great. Anytime you're a parent and your kid says something funny, it's so much better if you're a comedian because the minute he said it, I couldn't wait to get out on stage and tell it to you. Cause that's the thing. The most important thing to me is that my kids are happy. But I also love when they're material. To put it in a simpler way, I want them to be content. But I also Want them to be content.
- [05:10]
Kara Swisher
So I see what you did here. I saw what you did there.
- [05:12]
Seth Meyers
A little bit of word play, a little wordplay. Joyce and wordplay. Yeah.
- [05:15]
Kara Swisher
Talk about why you sort of moved in this direction, because my second son, who you met, the really tall one, calls me a Sharon.
- [05:22]
Seth Meyers
Oh, that's a very. I like that.
- [05:24]
Kara Swisher
It's not a compliment. It's not a compliment.
- [05:25]
Seth Meyers
No, of course not.
- [05:26]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. And I do worry about talking about them, but there are frequent characters on my podcast. He's called Legs, Clara. My daughter is called the Golden Child, et cetera. When your kids get a little older and watch your comedy specials, how do you think they're gonna react to it?
- [05:42]
Seth Meyers
Well, first of all, I'm very cognizant of the fact that, you know, by the time they hit 12 or 13, they will have permission to say, hey, I'm off limits, FYI. And I think they will be able to tell that it is a loving portrayal. And I try very hard to make sure that I'm the dumbest person in my special when I talk about my family, which they would, by the way, all sign off on that assessment.
- [06:10]
Kara Swisher
So feckless dad is what you're going to say.
- [06:12]
Seth Meyers
Feckless dad, I think, is a good way to put it. And, you know, my lobby baby loves being lobby Baby. And I feel like the older one, Ash, will sometimes be in the park, and people come over and say, which one's lobby Baby? And Ash will say, he's lobby baby. I'm hospital baby. And I don't have the heart to tell him that that's not that novel or interesting. But they do like being, I think, part of who I think they love knowing I talk about them.
- [06:40]
Kara Swisher
Right.
- [06:41]
Seth Meyers
And they recently came to the show. Just. I forget. Oh, they came because we had a couple of New York Knicks on, and so the boys wanted to come and meet the Knicks, and they're never at the show.
- [06:50]
Kara Swisher
This is your.
- [06:51]
Seth Meyers
My talk show. Yeah.
- [06:52]
Kara Swisher
Talk show. Yeah.
- [06:52]
Seth Meyers
And so they came and they heard me warm up the crowd. And that story that's in the special about them meeting President Biden, I tell in the warmup. And they were so tickled to know that I was sort of telling a story about them to strangers, especially one where, you know, it's about me being delighted in watching how they act. So, you know, look, I'm sure there's something coming, but, you know, I don't quite know how to be a comedian father and not have that.
- [07:23]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. It's interesting because my son, who does not like when I mention the other one. Doesn't care. And he sometimes is mad when I don't mention him too. Right. Like, why'd you leave me out? Well, you screamed at me when I mentioned something, and your frat found out about it and this and that. But is there a line where you don't use. You put yourself, as I said, a feckless dad, and that's kind of a trap. You know, it's of sitcoms, 100%.
- [07:45]
Seth Meyers
Yeah.
- [07:45]
Kara Swisher
And there's always a feckless dad and a smarter mother, and that's what's happening here in Sharper Kids. But is there a line you don't use for your material?
- [07:53]
Seth Meyers
Of course. But I think that, you know, again, you know, the version that's on HBO has been, you know, I've done this hour so many times, and you sort of find out by trying. And for me, the line is never about, you know, pushing the bounds of good taste. It's just, you know, sometimes I'll tell a story that is, you know, critical of something my wife did. And I can sense when the audience.
- [08:18]
Kara Swisher
Your wife's mean. Apparently, that's.
- [08:19]
Seth Meyers
My wife can be mean. She would also sign off on this. And. But again, you know, like, there's a lot of work that goes into the special to, you know, having this, undergirding that. Here are the things I do that justify my wife's meanness and to just say she's mean without showing the work. You know, there were times, by the way, there were, you know, I ran the hour a few times and maybe didn't have that undergirding, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. So it's always just trying to find the balance.
- [08:45]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. One of the lines you had really hit with me, as, you know, I have four kids, you have three. Parenting is constantly suppressing yourself.
- [08:54]
Seth Meyers
Your true self.
- [08:55]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, your true self. Talk a little bit about that. Well, the Clockwork Orange sweater thing, I literally did two nights ago. This is a thing where you don't want to do anything. You don't want to hit your kid, you don't want to yell at them, but you take off the sweater in an aggressive mix.
- [09:10]
Seth Meyers
You pull a sweater off as fast as you can, and then the collar catches and pulls. One eyebrow way up. And you. Clockwork Orange, your child into seeing what they've done to you. I think it's just that suppressing your true self, which is you. If anyone else in your world behaved the way your kids would, there would be a way you'd react that is now not acceptable or effective with kids. And so you just. It's almost like learning a foreign language late in life where, again, you're saying, I don't care for the fact that you dumped your oatmeal on the floor, and that is as crazy to you as conjugating irregular Italian verbs.
- [09:47]
Kara Swisher
I don't care for that.
- [09:49]
Seth Meyers
I don't care for that.
- [09:50]
Kara Swisher
Speaking of family, it's kind of in the election right now, J.D. vance, obsessed with family in a really troubling way. This idea of having family. How do you look at that? Why that's become sort of a campaign issue right now, I don't know.
- [10:05]
Seth Meyers
It's so shocking to me because I, of course, know a great many more liberal people than conservative people, and I know not any of them to care less about their families. And it's so strange how they're able to, I don't know, just look you flat in the eye and take the position that they have a better sense of what it means to be a part of a family or to take care of a family than the other side does. I mean, you know, again, they're bad faith actors. And this is.
- [10:39]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, he seems to have a real. It's interesting. He talks about children. He talks about having children. He and I got in a beef a while ago when he just had two children, I had four. And he's like, liberals don't believe in the future. They don't believe in families. And I said, well, since I have double the children, I believe in it twice as much. Which he didn't welcome. He didn't respond to that.
- [10:58]
Seth Meyers
If anything, I do think, you know, obviously I celebrate anybody's choice to have kids or not have kids. But when I didn't have kids, I thought, oh, people with a lot of kids are crazy. And now that I have three, I'm sort of like, if we started earlier, I don't know if I would have stopped having kids. You know, like, I.
- [11:16]
Kara Swisher
You could still have more children.
- [11:18]
Seth Meyers
I know, but it's really. I mean, there's another vote.
- [11:22]
Kara Swisher
There's another vote. Oh, no more kids. Your wife said. Speaking of your wife, you know, all comics mind their lives, obviously. But you said your wife doesn't listen to your act.
- [11:33]
Seth Meyers
That's not true, I should say, and nor should she. Like, she doesn't watch Late Night every night, but she. There's never been an hour I've been working on that she hasn't seen like four or five times now, with that said I'm doing a residency at the Beacon Theater once a month. But she doesn't come to that, nor should she, but when I do fundraisers, she'll come to those shows. And she's an incredibly good sounding board for my material. I get asked a lot. Does she have veto power over the jokes and. Of course. But that's not the important part. Like, I'm glad she watches because she almost always, even if she's the butt of a joke, will say, you know, this is actually a funnier example of what you're trying to say here. So it's a really nice partnership. And again, you know, she. I was a comedian when we met.
- [12:22]
Kara Swisher
So it's not like she's not understanding what you are.
- [12:26]
Seth Meyers
She likes this gig.
- [12:28]
Kara Swisher
So your kids are under 10. They're too young for social media. But you mention in Dead Man Walking that you and your wife, Alexei, don't allow them to have a lot of screen time. Yeah, I talk about this a lot. And for example, I just had Dr. Becky on. I've talked to Dr. Murti, who's the Surgeon General, who's talking about that. Do you think about that right now? Because one of your kids is getting closer to that.
- [12:48]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. Look, I will not surprise you to know it's been a robust conversation at our school. And the phone policy has changed. And this is something we're constantly thinking about, and we're lucky. We're obviously in a group of like minded parents who see it as a threat. We all appreciate that the future is your kids are gonna be using phones the way we used computers and the way that my parents used the printing press. But it's just smart, I think, to get ahead of it even before your kids are ready for it.
- [13:27]
Kara Swisher
So what rules do you have in place for them now?
- [13:29]
Seth Meyers
So the one time that they watched screens, which I would, is basically me conceding. And I'm not even sure if I think Alexi would prefer that it wasn't the full. But like, we take a train. Me and the boys take a train once a week. And it's like, that's your two hours. Like, and I'm just like, what do you want me to load up? Here are your headphones. Enjoy. And. But it's great. And then, you know, the other than that, like, if it's not bad weather, like, they're not watching stuff. Like, we just try to. The other thing about being like, phones are so bad. Like, I went to a public school, I came home, I immediately turned on TV for like four hours.
- [14:06]
Kara Swisher
Yep.
- [14:06]
Seth Meyers
And it was, you know, I saw terrible content. I saw more commercials than I think you see on social media. Like, I was just constantly getting blasted.
- [14:15]
Kara Swisher
So I don't think it had that much effect. I think it has a lot less effect than people think, but obsession with screen certainly does. It's a different. It's a different creature.
- [14:22]
Seth Meyers
It is different. Right?
- [14:23]
Kara Swisher
It's a different. It's obsessive, like, and it doesn't turn off ever. It never stops. It's endless.
- [14:28]
Seth Meyers
And I guess that thing, it wasn't like the TV wasn't never was effective, affecting my esteem. The TV never said anything about me.
- [14:37]
Kara Swisher
We'll be back in a minute.
- [14:51]
Seth Meyers
This episode is brought to you by.
- [14:53]
Kara Swisher
On Investing, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. I'm Kathy Jones, Schwab's chief fixed income strategist. And I'm Liz Ann Saunders, Schwab's chief investment strategist. Between us, we have decades of experience studying the indicators that drive the economy and how they can have a direct impact on your investments. We know that investors have a lot of questions about the markets and the economy, and we're here to help. Join us each week as we explore questions like how do you evaluate corporate bonds? And what sectors of the stock market are outperforming? So Cathy will analyze what's happening in the bond market and at the Fed, and I'll give you our latest analysis of the equities market and the U.S. economy. And we often interview prominent guests from across the world of investing and business. So download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com on investing or wherever you get your podcasts. Fox Creative.
- [15:50]
Seth Meyers
This is advertiser content from Zell. When you picture an online scammer, what do you see?
- [15:58]
Kara Swisher
For the longest time, we have these images of somebody sitting crouched over their computer with a hoodie on, just kind of typing away in the middle of the night. And honestly, that's not what it is anymore.
- [16:08]
Seth Meyers
That's Ian Mitchell, a banker turned fraud fighter. These days, online scams look more like crime syndicates than individual con artists. And they're making bank. Last year, scammers made off with more than $10 billion. It's mind blowing to see the kind of infrastructure that's been built to facilitate scamming at scale. There are hundreds, if not thousands of.
- [16:32]
Kara Swisher
Scam centers all around the world. These are very savvy business people.
- [16:36]
Seth Meyers
These are organized criminal rings. And so once we understand the magnitude of this problem, we can protect people better. One challenge that fraud fighters like Ian face is that scam victims sometimes feel too ashamed to discuss what happened to them. But Ian says one of our best defenses is simple. We need to talk to each other.
- [16:57]
Kara Swisher
We need to have those awkward conversations around.
- [17:00]
Seth Meyers
What do you do if you have.
- [17:01]
Kara Swisher
Text messages you don't recognize?
- [17:03]
Seth Meyers
What do you do if you start.
- [17:04]
Kara Swisher
Getting asked to send information that's more sensitive?
- [17:07]
Seth Meyers
Even my own father fell victim to.
- [17:09]
Kara Swisher
A, thank goodness, a smaller dollar scam. But he fell victim and we have these conversations all the time. So we are all at risk and.
- [17:17]
Seth Meyers
We all need to work together to protect each other. Learn more about how to protect yourself@vox.com Zelle and when using digital payment platforms, remember to only send money to people you know and trust.
- [17:32]
Kara Swisher
Vox Creative.
- [17:33]
Seth Meyers
This is advertiser content from Virgin Atlantic. Hey Kara, it's Scott. Remember me? The guy that Tina Feyd, your Alec Baldwin sort of rejuvenated your career. Anyways, I'm in the lounge at Heathrow. I'm at the leathrow, the Virgin Lounge, the Virgin Atlanta clubhouse lounge and I'm about to have the chicken tikka masala. I love it here. You should check it out. It's where the cool kids hang out. Anyways, hope you're all safe travels.
- [17:56]
Kara Swisher
Scott, frankly it's a miracle that Virgin Atlantic let you into the clubhouse and their incredible business class. But I guess they did tell me how it was.
- [18:05]
Seth Meyers
So Kara, I'm an original gangster when it comes to Virgin. I've been flying Virgin for 20 plus years and I do the same thing and they get it right every time. They always have the financial times for me and I order the chicken tikka masala and that is my Virgin experience. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
- [18:25]
Kara Swisher
And your drink was. What is your drink?
- [18:28]
Seth Meyers
Well, I used to drink a Bloody Mary or a beer in the clubhouse. I don't drink alcohol when I travel anymore so I just do mineral water. But they have this kind of cool cocktail that's like a lemongrass or some sort of cool margarita thing and I get a virgin one.
- [18:43]
Kara Swisher
What is your pre flight routine? What is your actual besides your chicken tikka masala?
- [18:47]
Seth Meyers
At the Virgin Clubhouse my pre flight routine is. Well, I always do the same thing in the morning when I travel. I try and work out. I take the dogs for a walk and I always make time for the clubhouse because I do enjoy the Virgin clubhouse at Heathrow. So check out virginatlantic.com for your next trip and see the world differently. Certain amenities are only available in Selected cabins and aircraft.
- [19:10]
Kara Swisher
So I want to actually get into the business of these standup specials that you are doing. HBO had long been the. Now there's an incredible number of specials out there on the streamers, especially on Netflix, which is sort of seize the crown. Talk about how it's changed over the years for you and who has the advantage now, the performer or the distributor. Now, your last special for people who don't know was on Netflix. The new ones on hbo. Talk about your experience there. Maybe Stack rank the streamers.
- [19:39]
Seth Meyers
Well, so I got into this a little bit later, so I don't think I came in with a huge sense of what it was. And Robby Pra, who is in charge of comedy at Netflix, was actually really integral in me doing Lobby Baby. I, in my head, didn't think I was ready to do a special or necessarily want to do one. And he had seen me do my hour a few times, and he sort of leaned on me and gave me the confidence to do Lobby Baby. My experience with Netflix was great. And the thing I sort of missed was it came out in November of 19, and then I would have maybe started touring about six months later, but that was the pandemic. So I never really found out what the touring bounce was of starting to do standup right after a Netflix special came out. And I've certainly heard from friends and colleagues that that is a real thing. And this time around, I would only say, you know, for me, it does seem as though HBO feels more curated. Obviously, part of it is they're doing less. I think that there's always a risk of getting a little lost in the Netflix shuffle. I say that having had nothing but a positive experience. And the other thing for me, which is, again, different than most people, I've worked for the same company for almost 25 years.
- [21:02]
Kara Swisher
This is NBC.
- [21:02]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. So anytime I can work, anytime I can work with, like, a different person. It's just exciting.
- [21:08]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [21:09]
Seth Meyers
So having done Netflix, it was just the appeal for me was doing.
- [21:15]
Kara Swisher
Just dating around.
- [21:17]
Seth Meyers
Yeah, dating around. And, you know, Nina Rosenstein over at HBO has a great reputation. And, you know, in this time, you know, she was sort of the one who courted me. And I like being courted. You do Kara? I do.
- [21:28]
Kara Swisher
Like, what did she do?
- [21:29]
Seth Meyers
Just, you know, I was doing my show, you know, before I started doing my residency of the Beacon, I was doing the City Winery, which is, you know, a little 300 seater. And she came there to check it out as far as ranking. But I know Hulu is getting in the business, which is just good for all of us. And I believe, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn. I think Bill Burr is maybe doing one over there, and Jim Gaffigan and Nate Bargetti doing stuff on Amazon, I think is good for everybody. Certainly if you're talking about volume, Netflix definitely has the crown. But I think for all standups everywhere, it's great when different streamers want to get into it.
- [22:05]
Kara Swisher
Have you thought about doing it yourself?
- [22:07]
Seth Meyers
I, you know, I will admit, no. I had people who said exactly the way you said it. And I just like the idea of that HBO logo.
- [22:22]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Why?
- [22:23]
Seth Meyers
Just cause, like, HBO meant something to me. And like, I also feel like we grew up in an era where, like, it was like, this. Me, I like, I like this company, which is, I know, crazy now because companies don't like you. But that, like, static and HBO thing and just the idea of, like, I mean, I'm pretty. I'm almost certain the first hour long comedy special I saw was likely on hbo. Yeah. And so, you know, I've reached the age where it's kind of fun to, like, do things that are meaningful to me. And maybe, who knows, maybe not the smartest move financially, but owning your own.
- [23:00]
Kara Swisher
Stuff is not important to you necessarily, because they own this now.
- [23:04]
Seth Meyers
Oh, man. I mean, this. Why don't we do these podcasts before I make my deals.
- [23:09]
Kara Swisher
I own everything.
- [23:10]
Seth Meyers
No kidding.
- [23:11]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm in some discussions right now and I'm like, every time I go meet with someone, I'm like, what do I need you for? Explain to me. Explain to me why I need you. I have a very different attitude, but you do not. You like having the HBO logo.
- [23:27]
Seth Meyers
Well, I mean, I should say, like, still, the nicest thing about standup is, you know, taking it on the road is as lucrative as doing a special. So it is nice to have that ownership. And you know, Kara, I will say, and you know, with the podcast I'm doing right now, like, we do own those. Yeah. And it's been fun to do that independently. And I realize the sort of value of it when you appreciate one, like both cutting out the middleman and then realizing how little the middleman does anything for you.
- [24:02]
Kara Swisher
Like, what do I need to. Speaking of that, taking the road, ticket sales for live comedy shows are booming from 2022 to 23 totals. And it's a little post pandemic. Total sales went up almost 40%. They've gone up 70% since 2018. That's pre pandemic. You used to do standup tours so you could get a show.
- [24:22]
Seth Meyers
Oh, 100%, I think the 80s and the 90s. Right. The model was the Roseanne model. You do enough stand up and you do a lot of standup in la, probably even less touring in the hopes that a development executive would see you. And one, barely any sitcoms anymore. So it would be a sort of fool's errand to aim for that. And in general, yeah, I mean, you are generating. I mean, again, I don't think I could tour even if I was a full time touring comic. I certainly would not have the sort of booming ticket sales as the people at the top of the game. But they are, you know, they're absolutely being rewarded for their talents and their fan bases who want to keep coming out and seeing them. And, you know, I also think it's an arduous life.
- [25:07]
Kara Swisher
Right. But you have a residency at the Beacon with John Oliver.
- [25:10]
Seth Meyers
That's the dream.
- [25:12]
Kara Swisher
Talk about that.
- [25:12]
Seth Meyers
It's every month, one Sunday a month. And John was very kind during the writers strike, he had some Beacon shows booked and he invited me to join him for three nights in August of 23, I guess. And then we sold out three shows. And the Beacon reached out and asked if we would want to do a monthly residency. And that is, I mean, one. I love being around John and we are good friends who never see each other. And now we see each other once a month and we. There's a nice. It just feels. I mean, again, I'm never relaxed when I'm about to do an hour of standup. But it is nice when, you know the audience is also getting John. You sort of feel like a burden of like, no matter how bad it goes, John's incredibly consistent and incredibly.
- [25:58]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, you're like Celine Dion with Taylor Swift there.
- [26:00]
Seth Meyers
Exactly. And also just like a Sunday home game in New York City. Cause one of the things about touring, which, to be honest, I mostly tour to get an hour ready to film. I don't wanna be away from my family that much. But if I know I'm filming for hbo, I will go out one weekend a month and try to do four shows in a weekend just for the reps. And now that this Dead Man Walking is out, I mostly, my plan is just to do the Beacon for the near future and start working on a new hour there.
- [26:34]
Kara Swisher
Right. For doing it there. It's a really interesting way to do that.
- [26:38]
Seth Meyers
It is the best. I don't know. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been there?
- [26:40]
Kara Swisher
I love The Beacon.
- [26:41]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. I mean, it's the biggest intimate theater I've ever been in.
- [26:44]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [26:45]
Seth Meyers
Yeah.
- [26:45]
Kara Swisher
I think it's. Well, it's almost like you have a Broadway show. I mean, Mike Birbiglia kind of does that with his shows.
- [26:50]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. I mean, I think Birbiglia deserves so much credit for building this other model, which is. It is very much standup comedy, and yet it's also theater. Right. Maybe a show is better than theater, but it does feel like a show. Whereas I feel like you can see some standups being like, oh, my God, he's a great standup. Whereas Birbigli does a thing.
- [27:12]
Kara Swisher
No, he's creative. And then he produced Alex Adelman, too.
- [27:16]
Seth Meyers
It's the same thing. And there's no. It's, by the way, no lack of jokes. Same amount of jokes you'd see in a standup set. But this. Like to have that arc and that resolution is a very cool thing.
- [27:27]
Kara Swisher
I want to talk a little bit. Also, your other business, late night, you have broadcast roots, obviously. You've been in late night for 10 years. You joined SNL, as you said. You've worked for NBC for a long time in 2001, and for the last decade, you've hosted Late Night with Seth Meyers. Talk a little bit about that being in late night because late night's always been competitive. Hosting a late night show was once the highly coveted gig that was the top of the heap. But viewership and ad revenue, way down. You've had to cut your house band, Fallon, recently cut to Jimmy Fallon four nights a week. Some late night shows have disappeared altogether. It's expensive production. Younger generations aren't watching it the way they used to watch it, or they're watching it in different ways, that's for sure. Talk about the business of late night right now, because that used to be the thing to get to 100%.
- [28:14]
Seth Meyers
I will say it was still, for me, the thing to get to. And now that I'm here, I have no interest in leaving. Creatively, it's such a wonderful home to be able to do four shows a week where you ultimately are building it from the ground up every day. Thrilling. I can't imagine replacing it with anything else that would be more exhilarating. As for the business side, everything you said is very true. And I don't feel like we're being lied to when the network tells us that ad revenue is down. I think for us, we are hopeful by the fact that certainly fewer people are watching us than watch late night with Conan O'Brien. But of course, Conan O'Brien didn't have 15 million YouTube viewers a week. Right. By the way, I think he would have if there was YouTube. But so we have these 15 million eyeballs and everybody. Because I do think it would benefit us all. Everybody at NBC is, I think, trying to figure out, like, what's the way to monetize this and have there be a future of late. Now, obviously, if they can't do that, I don't think the future is particularly bright. But I am hopeful that they're smart people who are working hard to try to crack that problem.
- [29:25]
Kara Swisher
How do you think they need to win back audiences, particularly young audiences? Obviously that's always the focus for advertisers because my kids watch everything. They watch all of John Oliver, just not at once and not the time he wants it to be watched.
- [29:38]
Seth Meyers
I mean, again, I don't know what the demographics are of our YouTube viewers, but my assumption is that's where the younger eyeballs are. I mean, the very fact that people used to watch these shows, myself included, at 1237, because, I mean, there were no other. It wasn't like I only watched Conan. Cause there was no other options. But I was watching Conan aware of the fact that there were no other options. Right. And you know, I'm never up when my show actually airs, but if I was, I don't know if I would, you know, flip on network television as it was airing, knowing that I could catch it later.
- [30:15]
Kara Swisher
So, yeah, your show also streams on Peacock. You also have a podcast version of it. You're on YouTube. You joked at this year's upfront said Peacock continues to prove that the easy way to make a billion dollars is to spend 8 billion.
- [30:26]
Seth Meyers
It's a fantastic joke.
- [30:28]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's really good. Did they love it when you said.
- [30:30]
Seth Meyers
They did love it? They weirdly did love it. Yeah.
- [30:32]
Kara Swisher
Actually, Peacock's doing okay.
- [30:33]
Seth Meyers
I mean, yeah, they're doing all right.
- [30:34]
Kara Swisher
But do you do. When you're making these things, do you think about where it's going? Like, oh, this is a TikTok moment. Oh, this is social media. This is YouTube.
- [30:42]
Seth Meyers
I. I haven't. Only because. Well, look, when we started our show in 2014, the conventional wisdom for what worked online with these late night shows was celebrity driven, music driven, short. And then we did the thing we wanted to do, which was a closer look, which is 10 to 15 minutes now. We did that not thinking there was any future for it online. With that said, that's what is Our biggest hit. No, close second. And, and so that's 15 minutes three times a week. Viewership is probably 10 million views a week. And that's the other thing is weirdly, because again, now we have a younger generation who have the patience for podcasts. I think the YouTube videos they watch are an hour or two hours. So for us, almost 15 minutes is now the new TikTok video for a generation of kids who like to engage with longer form stuff.
- [31:36]
Kara Swisher
Right now you also have recurring segments which actually lends itself to that. You have a closer look. Ya burnt. Seth Ryder's Amber says what with Amber Ruffin. The one that really stands out to me is day drinking, which is exactly what it sounds like. You take a guest out drinking for a day. Mostly you get drunk, I think it looks like from the ones I met.
- [31:52]
Seth Meyers
Some others did.
- [31:53]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, they did.
- [31:54]
Seth Meyers
Some others did.
- [31:55]
Kara Swisher
You're right up there.
- [31:55]
Seth Meyers
Julia Louis Dreyfuss did not get drunk, but she.
- [31:57]
Kara Swisher
No, no. But you've been. You've taken your parents. You have Ina Garten, Rihanna, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, who you nearly killed. Kristen Stewart, by the way, you look good as a lesbian.
- [32:08]
Seth Meyers
Thank you. I always kind of knew it might be in there.
- [32:10]
Kara Swisher
Yes, you really do. You have that fetching quality, that lesbian quality. You recently brought Julia Louis Dreyfus day drinking. Let's hear what she had to say about it.
- [32:20]
Seth Meyers
Guys, this show is a terrible idea.
- [32:22]
Kara Swisher
This show is the worst idea you've ever done in your life.
- [32:28]
Seth Meyers
Don't.
- [32:28]
Kara Swisher
I'm telling you, man, you are going to get so sick. Oh, this man. This is a terrible. Have you been drinking during the break? It's the stupidest show I've ever done. So she's whispering at the end there. So this might have heard it, but I think she said, this is the stupidest show I've done in my life. But she looked like she was having a really good time.
- [32:52]
Seth Meyers
She did have a very good time.
- [32:53]
Kara Swisher
It ended up with her tucking you in for a nap on a dice. On a soft foam dice.
- [32:59]
Seth Meyers
On a bar floor.
- [33:00]
Kara Swisher
On a bar floor. Talk about how you came up with this segment.
- [33:04]
Seth Meyers
I'm just curious again, it's so to talk about how you come up with these things because it's never as smart as the idea turned out to be. So the first one I did was with my brother and we were just trying to find out, figure out something to do with my brother on the show. And the first day drinking was a little bit more like, this is Josh.
- [33:22]
Kara Swisher
My brother Josh, which You have a podcast with. By the way.
- [33:24]
Seth Meyers
We do family trips, but it felt like almost like an Anthony Bourdain type. We're gonna travel around the bars of Brooklyn. It wasn't about binge drinking. It was about, you know, like, the way, like, you properly day drink. And then, weirdly, we realized, oh, the fun is to stay in one location, come up with dumb games, drink stupid drinks, and just get drunk on camera. Now, I should note to every listener here who's doubting the wisdom of this. We only do it a couple times a year because it's a terrible look. And obviously, you know, I always say, like, carpool karaoke's a great bit. And nobody's ever like, buddy, you gotta stop singing in cars. But, you know, this is. And the other problem is, post Rihanna, everyone wants to do it.
- [34:11]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [34:11]
Seth Meyers
And so you. It's so. I mean, our talent department's like, could you maybe could. I mean, it's like, I'm like a.
- [34:19]
Kara Swisher
Can you live or take it?
- [34:20]
Seth Meyers
I'm like a boxer who clearly has cte. And they're like, can you do one more fight for us, champ?
- [34:26]
Kara Swisher
So I was worried about you.
- [34:28]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. I mean, the other important thing, I barely drink now between them.
- [34:34]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [34:34]
Seth Meyers
I've really cut back because.
- [34:36]
Kara Swisher
Could you go for it?
- [34:37]
Seth Meyers
I go for it. I mean, I will say I did go to a Midwestern school. In the binge drinking night.
- [34:41]
Kara Swisher
You said that during one thing. I went to a. I was in a frat.
- [34:44]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. I mean, I've drunk. You can't believe some of these people. I've drunk under the table.
- [34:49]
Kara Swisher
Who was the best drinker?
- [34:51]
Seth Meyers
Rihanna.
- [34:52]
Kara Swisher
Rihanna.
- [34:52]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. And I should know. This is, you know, this is pre motherhood Rihanna. I think she's probably not day drinking anymore. She's slowed down. Like the best of us. Yeah.
- [34:59]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, I want to. You mentioned your brother Josh. Let's talk about podcasts. You have name attached to four of them if we include your late night.
- [35:05]
Seth Meyers
Four.
- [35:06]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Your late night host. You also did Strike Force 5, a gag of late night host. You co host a show with your brother Josh about family trips. You bring in celebrities and talk about their family trips. You just launched a new show with the Lonely island guys. Talk about podcasting. Do you look at differently? Are you surprised by how many comics have moved to it? In fact, it's become the most lucrative part of their repertoire. Jason Bateman talked about this.
- [35:28]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. I was obviously way behind the curve, and when the boom started, I remember my agents coming saying, would you want to do a Podcast. And I remember thinking, I don't want to. First of all, I feel like they're done right like this. And again, like, you know, Conan is doing it, Smartliss is doing it. I don't want to interview other people. I interview people on my show, and I don't want to try to, like, chase a thing. Other people are doing better. And then, you know, one of the realities was, again, I was always looking for something to do with my brother. And when the writers strike happened, I had all this free time. And it's possible to do a podcast while you also have a late night show. It's really hard to start one while you have a late night show. And so I was just glad, like, sort of those. During that, like, bummer of whatever it was, four months, we managed to get a couple on their feet.
- [36:19]
Kara Swisher
And mostly you have 77 of those family, I think.
- [36:22]
Seth Meyers
Yeah, we're doing good. And I will say the nice thing about it, and I know this is like one of your friends, Scott Galloway's talking points that, like, men don't have friends.
- [36:31]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [36:32]
Seth Meyers
But, like, it's amazing how, like, my brother and I, who I would say is my closest friend, we, like, talk two minutes a week. And then my wife would be like, what's he up to? I'm like, I have no idea. I don't even know what he said. And so now I get to spend an hour a week with my brother. It's so great. And then the Lonely island guys, who are three of my closest friends.
- [36:50]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, this is Andy Samberg, Akiva Shaffer, and Jorma Taccone. Taccone. It's a comedy trio. The Lonely Island. You wrote back with them at snl. And the four of you tell the story behind making all the shorts.
- [37:04]
Seth Meyers
Yeah.
- [37:04]
Kara Swisher
Every one of your podcasts is kind of stunty. You know what I mean? How'd you come up with this idea?
- [37:09]
Seth Meyers
That was. And again, part of the stunty nature is not. Not wanting to just be redundant to the market. Right. These, you know, it was like I realized there were again, behind the curve, old behind the curve Myers. But I was realizing, oh, there's this sort of, you know, recap. Podcasts. You know, there were. The office girls were always sunny, and I basically just reached out to the Lonely island guys and said, you guys should do one of these because people.
- [37:40]
Kara Swisher
Are interested in how you make things.
- [37:41]
Seth Meyers
People are interested in how you make stuff. And then they were kind enough to say, oh, we've been trying to figure out a podcast that's a Great idea. Would you host it for us? And so mostly for me. And again, it's talking to three guys I love, and then it's fun. I like talking about that era of my life, being with those creative people, because it's not just the shorts. It bleeds over to our time at SNL and that wonderful cast and that group of writers, and it's a process show. And I think for, you know, I don't think it's for everybody, but I think for young people, I think for people who live through it, I think it's really fun to remember. And I think for young people who just like talking about comedy, I think it's a really helpful tool.
- [38:21]
Kara Swisher
What do you think about what happened with Smartless? Were you surprised? Are you like, fuck?
- [38:25]
Seth Meyers
I mean, I'm mostly just very impressed. It is. You know, it's also. Sometimes you just have to step back and just tip your cap to the perfect alchemy of that group of three guys. You know, they have a natural friendship, and they slide into. It's like you would cast a show about three guys and, you know, vocally. I mean, that's one of the things my brother and I are up against. Identical voices. Yeah. Whereas those guys, you know, they just. They just fall into their role. So, I mean, you know, I'm friends with Dax Shepard as well, who has.
- [39:03]
Kara Swisher
A show for people who don't know.
- [39:04]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. Armchair Expert. And you. A very successful show, and you sort of first hear about it and you think to yourself, what? How? And then you listen to it and you're like, oh, yeah, he's just a great broadcaster. And you just realize. And it's so funny how, you know, the idea of broadcasting, I think, obviously has changed, but at the end of the day, you just want to, you know, whether it's watching or listening, you just want to be with people you.
- [39:26]
Kara Swisher
Trust and, like, you should do one with your wife.
- [39:28]
Seth Meyers
I would like to do one with my wife.
- [39:30]
Kara Swisher
You should. I think she's very dry.
- [39:32]
Seth Meyers
She's so dry.
- [39:33]
Kara Swisher
She's so dry.
- [39:34]
Seth Meyers
She's very funny.
- [39:35]
Kara Swisher
I was like, I need a fucking drink of water after talking to her.
- [39:38]
Seth Meyers
She's very funny, though. Give her time.
- [39:40]
Kara Swisher
I never feel insecure. And I was like, what does she think of me?
- [39:43]
Seth Meyers
Oh, it's not good. I imagine what it's like to live with her.
- [39:45]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, I can imagine. We'll be back in a minute. Support for this podcast comes from several nines. If your company operates in the cloud, you know that out of control, cost, disruptive outages, damaging security breaches and unacceptable vendor concentration can feel like they're destroying your cloud services. It's time for a new paradigm, one that not only provides you with more control over where and how you run your application and data workloads, but also one that provides the operational efficiency and reliability at scale via automation. Pioneered by several Nines, Sovereign DBAAS is a new way forward for corporations with multiple business requirements who need to deploy their workloads in mixed environments. It's grounded in end user independence. It gives it ops teams the ability to deploy and orchestrate databases in public, private and hybrid environments, removing lock in risks and giving organizations the orchestration benefits at scale that they used to get from traditional dbaas but now without its portability and access trade offs. So whether you're in a DevOps or platform engineering team, sovereign DBAs can provide you true optionality, resulting in a healthier, more robust and competitive tech ecosystem. Learn more@ several nines.com Cara.
- [41:19]
Seth Meyers
Think scaling AI is hard?
- [41:22]
Kara Swisher
Think again.
- [41:23]
Seth Meyers
With Watson X, you can deploy AI.
- [41:25]
Kara Swisher
Across any environment, above the clouds, helping.
- [41:28]
Seth Meyers
Pilots navigate flight and on lots of clouds, helping employees automate tasks on prem.
- [41:35]
Kara Swisher
So designers can access proprietary data and on the edge so remote bank tellers can assist customers.
- [41:41]
Seth Meyers
WatsonX works anywhere so you can scale AI everywhere.
- [41:45]
Kara Swisher
Learn more@ IBM.com WatsonX IBM let's create support for the show comes from Polestar. Innovation is at the heart of every Polestar car and their SUV. Polestar 3 is no different. Different from the intuitive infotainment system to its head turning design, Polestar 3 is for drivers unwilling to compromise. That means merging a spacious, comfortable interior with the torque and handling of a sports car. Now you can go from 0 to 60 in as little as 4.8 seconds and get an EPA estimated range of up to 315 miles per charge. Polestar 3 even allows the driver to optimize the powertrain between performance and range mode, depending on your drive's needs. Experience an uncluttered dashboard showing you everything you want to know and nothing you don't. The innovation doesn't stop there because you can just have Google turn on your favorite podcast and be immersed in 3D sound by Bowers and Wilkins. Polestar has put in the time designing and refining Polestar 3 and that means the time you spend in it will be the best time of your day. Book a test drive@polestar.com so I want to finish up by talking about politics. Yeah, go back to the material. Some critics say the left leaning bent on late night Shows is part of why the format has declined in relevance. For example, you, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jon Stewart are all openly liberal progressive. Might turn off half the country. Talk about being accessible to all Americans. Because right now, Fox's late night show, Gutfeld has the highest rated quarter ever. He regularly beats a lot of broadcast late night shows.
- [43:19]
Seth Meyers
Yeah, but that's like, that's slanted too, right?
- [43:21]
Kara Swisher
Well, yes it is, but he's the only one. He's this sort of right wing unicorn.
- [43:25]
Seth Meyers
Sure. But like you, we're all just authentically being who our self is. I'm assuming he's saying what he believes and we're saying what we believe.
- [43:33]
Kara Swisher
But talk about that. Cause you got a very split population right now and they have found someone like Gutfeld. Obviously. His book, King of Lightning is big book.
- [43:43]
Seth Meyers
Yeah, great.
- [43:45]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [43:45]
Seth Meyers
I mean, look, I'm happy there's choices for an audience, but I kind of. Look, I think that our show actually works better because people tune in and are seeing a person be authentic. I would argue that if we were doing a talk show from let's say the mid-90s, where it was just desk pieces and no point of view, I think those would be the shows that would be off the air right now.
- [44:13]
Kara Swisher
Off the air, yeah.
- [44:14]
Seth Meyers
So yes. I mean, I think that you could also say, I think the. I will not deny, obviously. Right. There's a decline in linear ratings.
- [44:22]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. I'm hitting a tiny nerve here. I feel like.
- [44:24]
Seth Meyers
No, no, you're not hitting a nerve. I just think that, look, there's a lot of. I mean, again, I think the reason ratings are down is because there's more options for everybody. Right. Like everybody says, like, oh, Johnny Carson worked because he was the only one. Right. But also was the only one. There was no Netflix and there's no streaming and there was no cable. And you know, so I'm not saying he wasn't the best that ever did it. He definitely was. But you know, part of it is environment. I just don't believe that. If I wasn't talking about. First of all, I just don't want to do a show where I don't talk about politics.
- [44:52]
Kara Swisher
Right.
- [44:52]
Seth Meyers
There's other choices for people who want.
- [44:54]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, yeah. You talk about a lot of things, but politics is important and you do it a lot on the show.
- [44:58]
Seth Meyers
It's the biggest part by far.
- [44:59]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. In your lobby, baby. Special 2019, you had Netflix include a button that allowed viewers who might be turned off by political comedy to skip over the section. Let's Play a clip from that section.
- [45:09]
Seth Meyers
I'll say is I feel like the jokes are the only good part about living through the Trump era.
- [45:17]
Kara Swisher
Only good part.
- [45:20]
Seth Meyers
I mean, living through the Trump era without any jokes would be like getting a prostate exam and not wanting the results. Let me tell you what we found. No, no, that's not what I'm here for. I'm gona be here tomorrow, get you back up in there, though. It's also very strange for me because based on the kind of show I do, and because it's a show about politics, people have been coming up to me so much over the last two years and saying, oh my God, this Trump presidency must be so good for you. How good is this Trump presidency for you?
- [45:58]
Kara Swisher
The same is true for the news business. How do you deal with that? Is this Trump presidency the potential erosion of democracy being good for late night?
- [46:06]
Seth Meyers
Look, I'm very, I don't think it'll be. We went into. When Trump joined the race in 2015, it was like, haha, so funny. Like I was as guilty as anybody else thinking, like, this is what a delight, right? You know, and then, you know, we were doing a lot of close looks and it was a lot about him and a lot of Hillary and like we had no expectation he was gonna win. But then we were ready for the moment because we had been doing, you know, we'd learned how to like, turn over content fast and. But I did not enjoy those four years and I certainly don't want to do it again. And I do worry as well that like, audiences will be just like, be so bummed out. So, yeah, I mean, you know, look, we're going to again, the only way we know how to react to it is authentically. But I do not in any way, shape or form think to myself like, oh, I'm not rubbing my hands together being like, oh, maybe we'll get lucky in another four years.
- [46:59]
Kara Swisher
Even with Arnold Pompeo.
- [47:00]
Seth Meyers
I mean, look, we're doing this on a Monday, so I'm pretty sure Arnold Palmer will show up in the show tonight.
- [47:06]
Kara Swisher
You can use Cocktober Surprise if you'd like.
- [47:07]
Seth Meyers
Oh, that's good. That's very nice.
- [47:09]
Kara Swisher
I don't think you can say that on lightning, can you?
- [47:11]
Seth Meyers
You could. They just beep us. Nobody's watching.
- [47:12]
Kara Swisher
So. Well, then it's not funny. But do you look at your business light of a win by Harris vs Trump? You don't look forward to that.
- [47:19]
Seth Meyers
No, and I hope you believe me. I really just care for the country right like we'll be. I think we can. We'll find comedy wherever this breaks. Yeah. And I'm not worried about that. And so my concerns for the outcome of this election are, you know, much more serious. Much more serious.
- [47:42]
Kara Swisher
Well, and dangerous. Speaking of which, we had an expert to call on a question for you just on this topic. Let's listen. Hi, I'm Samantha Bee, former host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, current host of the Daily Beast podcast and Choice Words with Samantha Bee. The big question I would ask Seth is this, what's your over under on the continued existence of late night television in its current form, given A, the horrendous contraction of the industry in general and B, the looming specter of, God forbid, a second Trump presidency and the vengeance that he is promising. Sethe does not like you. And you know, under Putin, the comedy shows were among the first to go cheerful. Thank you, Seth. I adore you. And I adore you, Kara as well.
- [48:36]
Seth Meyers
So that's such so nice to hear from Samantha.
- [48:39]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, she's great.
- [48:40]
Seth Meyers
So what's the over under.
- [48:42]
Kara Swisher
You already did. Talked about the contraction in the industry, but this is true. He has promised retribution. He doesn't like Seth Meyers. He doesn't like all kind. Doesn't like Jon Stewart, doesn't like. And aims at them a little bit.
- [48:55]
Seth Meyers
Yeah, I mean, he does kind of have a lot of other things he's supposed to get to first.
- [49:03]
Kara Swisher
Right.
- [49:04]
Seth Meyers
You know, but she's right.
- [49:05]
Kara Swisher
Comedy under Putin is the. They used to have a very thriving and part of the culture there.
- [49:10]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. Well, I don't. There's no real way to prepare for that one way or the other.
- [49:14]
Kara Swisher
Mm.
- [49:14]
Seth Meyers
Yeah.
- [49:15]
Kara Swisher
Do you think about holding back or do you. No, no. What would be your tone if he wins?
- [49:21]
Seth Meyers
I guess it's about how he wins. Right, right. I mean, to some degree you have to. The country's gonna tell us what they want on election day and we're gonna respond to that. Is it. You know, it could be based on how big a victory it is for either candidate, where you get a sense of where you're at. I think, I think what we found from our show, and again, I'm not being coy, but like, we react. Our show's the best when we react to the moment as it's happening as opposed to try to game out, you know, two plus weeks. You know, we're gonna write it this way if this happens. We're gonna write it this way if that happens.
- [49:59]
Kara Swisher
So what are you preparing for? For the election. How Are you?
- [50:03]
Seth Meyers
We're not really. I mean, we just.
- [50:04]
Kara Swisher
You're just gonna go.
- [50:05]
Seth Meyers
We just watch what happens and we write fast, you know, and it's part of what makes this job so fun is you don't. You can't get ahead of it. If you are committed to the idea of we're going to write a show about the last 24 hours, like, that's where our show has the most value, you know, we appreciate that. You know, a closer look will get 2 million views in the first two. Sorry, the first 24 hours. And then, you know, none after, because it's like a newspaper. So there's no. And again, it's not like we have, you know, it's not like we're putting journalists out in the field to, like, do exit polling. We're just gonna, you know, react to what we see.
- [50:43]
Kara Swisher
I have a couple more questions. Speaking of Sam Bee, lack of diversity in late night still is an issue. The shows are very male and very white. Full frontal with Sam Bee, for example, Lilly Singh's a little late. Amber Ruffin show along with Chelsea Handler's pokens have been canceled. You were executive producer of the Amber Ruffin Show. Very talented comic.
- [51:02]
Seth Meyers
She's amazing. And she's working with Roy Wood and Michael Ian Block at cnn.
- [51:07]
Kara Swisher
I'm gonna be on that show. Oh, great. But hers got canc after three seasons. What happened? Why has that happened still? Cause there's been efforts. Like, a lot of people say there hasn't been effort. I'm like, yes, there have. And lots of them.
- [51:19]
Seth Meyers
I think with Amber, look, it was Peacock. It was early Peacock. It was launched during the pandemic. There were a lot of things working against it. I think it might have a better chance now that Peacock's doing better. But again, yeah, it was a really good show. Critics liked it, and it was nominated for awards. And so for us, it was frustrating that it didn't take off, but it also, you know, you just kind of go back to the drawing board. You know, we're still working with Amber, trying to figure out what's the best use of her talents. Obviously, we're thrilled to have her at our show. She's an integral part of what we're doing here, along with her partner Jenny Hagel. And the two of them do jokes. Seth can't tell together. But yeah, I mean, ultimately, like, we, you know, when we realized we were lucky enough to have a show like this and when we had somebody as talented as Amber, we are trying to do everything we can to get voices like her out there. But it is frustrating.
- [52:15]
Kara Swisher
Two more questions. One is about AI. I kind of have to.
- [52:17]
Seth Meyers
Yeah. Okay, great. I bet I'll be. I bet it'll be unrewarding, but I'm glad you're asking.
- [52:21]
Kara Swisher
So assume Trump does not kill you.
- [52:23]
Seth Meyers
Okay.
- [52:23]
Kara Swisher
On another podcast, Strike Force Five, that you and other late NATO started during the Hollywood strikes, you did help support writers and crews that were out of work. That's over now, but the issues remain, including AI, which was a big issue in it.
- [52:35]
Seth Meyers
What. Do you.
- [52:35]
Kara Swisher
Do you have any thoughts about AI and comedy? Do you use it? Do you think about it?
- [52:41]
Seth Meyers
No, I don't use it. I'm sure it's a tool. I'm sure people in comedy will start using it. I think it will probably at some point. Look, I'm not, you know, I'm not so ignorant as to think it won't replace bad comedy writing. You know, I'm sure at some point it'll be able to do that. And then ultimately, I think it's the responsibility of good comedy writers to stay ahead of it. You know, look, if it's better, they're gonna use it.
- [53:14]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [53:15]
Seth Meyers
You know, and there's nothing we can do about it.
- [53:16]
Kara Swisher
Right. And are you using it?
- [53:18]
Seth Meyers
I haven't used anything now.
- [53:19]
Kara Swisher
I just had Robert Downey Jr. On the show about the show MacNeil, which you should see, which is about just that, the idea of it getting better and better as we get worse and worse. But you don't use it.
- [53:31]
Seth Meyers
I don't use it at all.
- [53:32]
Kara Swisher
You don't use it at all.
- [53:33]
Seth Meyers
I don't even. I'm going to tell you something.
- [53:34]
Kara Swisher
What?
- [53:35]
Seth Meyers
I don't even know how I would go about using it.
- [53:37]
Kara Swisher
Kara, I can help you. It's really easy. It's like someone who told me, I don't use the Internet. What's a web browser?
- [53:42]
Seth Meyers
I know, I get it. But, like, am I better off for using the Internet? I don't know.
- [53:47]
Kara Swisher
I think so.
- [53:49]
Seth Meyers
I want somebody to teach me how to, like, forge my own iron.
- [53:52]
Kara Swisher
Okay. For the end times. For the end times.
- [53:56]
Seth Meyers
Seeds. I want somebody to tell me how to save seeds.
- [53:59]
Kara Swisher
So, last question. I also left out a comic book you did with Bill Hader. You're very manic about all different things of creation.
- [54:06]
Seth Meyers
I like doing stuff. Yeah.
- [54:07]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, you do. It's important to stay relevant, I think, or try different things.
- [54:12]
Seth Meyers
Stretch different muscles.
- [54:13]
Kara Swisher
Stretch different muscles.
- [54:13]
Seth Meyers
Diversify, diversify.
- [54:15]
Kara Swisher
So if you were starting your comedy career right now, what would you be.
- [54:19]
Seth Meyers
Doing it's so interesting because I always say, you know, and again, you know, certainly as we're living through this, you know, it's very fraught time for people my age in this business. And, you know, one of the. I feel like things we always repeat is, thank God we started when we did. That always just sort of ignores the fact that the younger generation, they're resolute and they're full of the same imagination we had. And it's just they're gonna figure out the tools and they're gonna figure out how to do it. And I do believe we're gonna see bursts of creativity from every generation. It just scares me, the idea of, like, oh, wow, so you gotta generate your own material. And then if it's a hit now you're on this treadmill of constantly having to feed this beast that you started. Now, of course, maybe they would be. I explained to them what we used to do is move to Chicago and hope to get on stage. And they'd be like, what the fuck are you talking about? I can do this in my. Why would I leave my. I'm doing this in my basement by myself. And you're like, okay. I try very hard to remember that as crazy as it seems, like what we did was crazy.
- [55:27]
Kara Swisher
Yeah.
- [55:28]
Seth Meyers
And so I'm glad that I know when you say, like, what would I be doing? I know it wouldn't be what I did 30 years ago.
- [55:36]
Kara Swisher
Right.
- [55:36]
Seth Meyers
Which was move to Chicago, literally. Be like, I'm gonna hang out. I'll get a job waiting tables, and I'll wait. Every six months, there's auditions for Second City. Like, that wasn't a good plan. Yeah. But it worked out for a lot of people. And the one thing I hope for the younger generation who. And again, I do think they're making great stuff. Right. I see young people do things on TikTok all the time that blow my mind. I hope they're not lonely, because so much of the great part of my career was collaboration, and it wasn't always great. But I got put on an improv troupe with nine strangers, and a three of them are still my friends today. And again, that completely comes from a place of ignorance. And maybe they would all tell me, no, it's great. There is a community. But that is the part that worries me, because so much of what has been good about my life in comedy has been the people I've met and the laughter I've experienced off camera in a writer's room at an SNL table read while stuff is bombing Those were so informative and instructive. And so I do wear for the younger generation.
- [56:49]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. You know, I was gonna ask questions. V, what do you miss? And I think you just answered it.
- [56:53]
Seth Meyers
I do miss that. I mean, it is, you know, look, it's great having your own show and a door you can close. Like, I love it so much. Like, I'm also somebody who enjoys time by themselves, but, you know, people always say, do you miss snl? And I'm like, I miss being that age. Like, I don't want to be at SNL now, but I miss that. You know, being around a group of people where we all sort of felt like the arrow was pointing up and you were surrounded by. You know, I do feel like I knew. I think these people are gonna be in charge of comedy for the next 10 years. And I wasn't wrong.
- [57:27]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. In fact, you were right.
- [57:28]
Seth Meyers
Yeah.
- [57:29]
Kara Swisher
Are you gonna be in charge of snl?
- [57:31]
Seth Meyers
No.
- [57:31]
Kara Swisher
No. Okay.
- [57:32]
Seth Meyers
I don't think Lauren's ever gonna leave, and I think when he does, lights out.
- [57:36]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, right. That's true. So your special is out this weekend. It's called dad Man Walking. I stayed up till 3am watching it. It was great.
- [57:43]
Seth Meyers
Oh, my God.
- [57:44]
Kara Swisher
It was really good. It was good. Well, go check it out on Max or wherever you watch HBO and stuff like that. Seth, as usual, you're incredibly thoughtful, and I really appreciate you being here.
- [57:55]
Seth Meyers
Thank you, Cara. This was delightful.
- [57:57]
Kara Swisher
Thank you. Substantive. We try to teach it.
- [57:59]
Seth Meyers
It was.
- [57:59]
Kara Swisher
That's my thing.
- [58:00]
Seth Meyers
Do you know that substantive is a word that we had to take out of scripts? Cause I can't say it right.
- [58:05]
Kara Swisher
Oh, really?
- [58:05]
Seth Meyers
Say it. I, like, always substantive. I constantly say substantive. And they, like the writers, they just sigh.
- [58:11]
Kara Swisher
Can you say it with an Italian accent?
- [58:13]
Seth Meyers
Substantivo. Substantive.
- [58:17]
Kara Swisher
Okay.
- [58:18]
Seth Meyers
Substantive.
- [58:20]
Kara Swisher
German.
- [58:22]
Seth Meyers
Substandive.
- [58:24]
Kara Swisher
Watch the show. You'll know what we're talking about. He will not say it with an African or Pakistani accent.
- [58:29]
Seth Meyers
I will not.
- [58:30]
Kara Swisher
Anyway, thank you so much, and good luck with it.
- [58:34]
Seth Meyers
Thank you.
- [58:41]
Kara Swisher
On with Kara Swisher is produced by Christian Castro, Marcel Kateri Yocum, Jolie Myers, Megan Burney and Kailyn Lynch. Nishat Kirwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Special thanks to Claire Hyman, Sheena Ozaki, and Kate Gallagher. Our engineers are Rick Kwan and Fernando Aruda, and our theme music is by Trackademics. If you're already following the show, you. You can come forge iron with me and Seth Meyers in the apocalypse. If not, ask ChatGPT to write your jokes.
- [59:08]
Seth Meyers
Go.
- [59:08]
Kara Swisher
Wherever you listen to podcasts, search for on with Kara Swisher and hit follow. Thanks for listening to on with Kara Swisher from New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network, and us. We'll be back on Monday with more.
- [59:28]
Seth Meyers
Support for this podcast comes from Anthropic it's not always easy to harness the power and potential of AI. For all the talk around its revolutionary potential, a lot of AI systems feel like they're designed for specific tasks performed by a select few. Well, Claude by anthropic is AI for everyone. The latest model, Claude 3.5 Sonet offers groundbreaking intelligence at an everyday price. Claude Sonet can generate code, help with writing, writing and reason through hard problems better than any model. Before you can discover how Claude can transform your business@anthropic.com Claude support for the show comes from AT and T. What does it feel like to get the new iPhone 16 Pro with at and T?
- [60:16]
Kara Swisher
Next up Anytime?
- [60:18]
Seth Meyers
It's like when you first light up.
- [60:19]
Kara Swisher
The grill and think of all the mouth watering possibilities.
- [60:23]
Seth Meyers
Learn how to get the new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence on AT&T and the latest iPhone every year with AT and T. Next up anytime ATT connecting changes everything Apple Intelligence coming fall 2024 with Siri and device language set to US English. Some features and languages will be coming over the next year.
- [60:43]
Kara Swisher
$0 offer may not be available on future iPhones.
- [60:46]
Seth Meyers
Next up Anytime feature may be discontinued at any time, subject to change.
- [60:50]
Kara Swisher
Additional fees.
- [60:51]
Seth Meyers
Terms and restrictions apply. See att.com iPhone for details.