Seth Meyershas become one of the elder statemen of late-night.
I was the new guy for two months and a lot of shows have come and gone.
Its been nine years, so it didnt happen overnight.
United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks with host Seth MeyersPhoto by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC
But there was certainly a boom of how many people were trying this format, he told Deadline.
I hate being off, he says.
My vacation is doing the show.
Seth Meyers talks with actor Chris Pratt (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC)
It is more fun than the beach.
It is more fun than skiing.
I wish we did more weeks.
I wouldnt be looking for loopholes to figure out how to write [the show], he said.
DEADLINE: Hows the last twelve months been for you?
SETH MEYERS: I wouldnt say theres been any massive changes for us.
you’re free to never make massive adjustments in real time.
Everybody who works on the show gets a little better every week.
DEADLINE: What do you make of your timeslot rival James Cordenbeing replaced by@midnight?
It certainly has a curiosity.
DEADLINE: Would that have any impact on late-night guests?
MEYERS: Its going to be a real nice open field for our friend Jimmy Kimmel.
Ill tell you that much.
Any A-lister should just do Fallon, and help our lead in.
That would be better for us.
DEADLINE: Do you think late-night has a future over the next 10/15 years?
MEYERS: Oh, yeah.
DEADLINE: Has there ever been a conversation about moving the timeslot?
I always figured the show could stay on at 12:30am but perhaps stream on Peacock earlier in the night.
Its all changing really quickly and there are different options for it.
DEADLINE: Do you think NBC potentially getting out of 10pm is good for late-night?
If it was better for us, it would only be incrementally.
Once you give it away, I think its a hard thing to get back.
DEADLINE: How do you feel about having to still talk about President Trump?
I dont see a lot of other charismatic choices.
This is a 30-year lease.
DEADLINE: Sal really puts a shift in with those A Closer Look monologues.
you could only do it over time.
[The audience] knows youre coming back, so they can enjoy it.
DEADLINE: Its fun to try and figure out which esoteric clips youll call back to.
MEYERS: I know.
I feel like we should have a real time guessing game.
If the show was live, we would.
DEADLINE: Thats clear because you often break.
MEYERS: I break or Ill comment on it in a way that wasnt written.
It also feels a little bit more like an improv game.
But the other thing is how often we just leave in the fuckups.
We leave in it and things that we would have cut out 1,000% [before].
The most genuine Im being is how I react to a fuckup, theres no artifice to it.
Now I see it as an opportunity.
I know for a fact nobody at my show has mailed it in.
DEADLINE: What do you make of the Emmy changes?
At least you wont get beaten byLast Week Tonight with John Oliverif youre nominated.
MEYERS: How about that?
Its going to be very, very interesting to see.
I like that the answer to how does somebody beat John Oliver is you just move him elsewhere.
DEADLINE: Have you spoken to Lorne about it?
MEYERS: I havent.
Thats a good question.
Itll be one of those two and thats almost as interesting as who wins the [late-night] category.
MEYERS: Im very flattered.
That will always be the most important thing Ive done.
To hear my name in this conversation is another thing thats so lovely and flattering.
With that said, it is not a job for me.
I really think everybody underestimates the idea that Lorne Michaels might just be irreplaceable.
I guess theres a worry that without Lorne, the show goes away.
MEYERS: I dont think thats the craziest thing in the world to imagine.
you’ve got the option to learn how to do things, but you cant learn taste.
Its really easy to underestimate that.
DEADLINE: You also dont want to be the person who screws upSNL, right?
MEYERS: Whoever goes after the person who replaces in there, thats the job.
They should do a favor and just go to monster.com and hire somebody with no background in TV.
Let them do it for six months and have the entertainment press fucking put them on a spit.
Tell that person coming in that youre just here to take the heat and youll get a golden parachute.
They should get someones who not in TV because after theyll never work in TV again.
DEADLINE: Lets talk about Corrections.
You let your fans, otherwise known as Jackals, decided which episode to submit.
MEYERS: They kept voting for episode 69 but I dont think were going to listen to them.
But part of Corrections is that there are no rules to Corrections.
MEYERS: I didnt either.
Somebody said wheres episode 40?
They were like, Oh, you put in [Eminems] Stan.
DEADLINE: Corrections has been nominated a couple of times.
MEYERS: We need them to moveCarpool Karaoketo the category with John Oliver and SNL.
MEYERS: Good question that I dont know where I fully fall.
