Dead Tree Alert: Seth Meyers Speaks!
Meyers, on the cover of TIME, says his Late Night will have more news, less rap. But can the format really change?
By James Poniewozik Jan. 02, 2014
Donna Ward / Getty Images
Seth Meyers on Oct. 8, 2013, in New York City.
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Really? Really! That is indeed Seth Meyers on the cover of this week's Time magazine, for our 2014 Users' Guide issue. As part of that year-in-preview package (subscription required), I talked to Meyers about his Late Night, premiering in February and still very much a work in progress:
For now, much of Meyers' Late Night job is waiting for Feb. 24, after Jimmy Fallon moves from Late Night to Tonight, when Meyers takes over the 12:35 a.m. E.T. show. Waiting for his new studio to get built. And waiting, in a way, to figure out who he is–at least as a host. When you make a drama or a sitcom, you decide what it will be, then hope it gets on the air. In late night, you get the show, then figure out what it will be like. Which depends largely on what you are like.
As I wrote when Meyers was being rumored to replace Fallon, this means NBC's late night shows will both be headed by two New York guys similar in age, background, and, well, being white guys. And Meyers and his producer Mike Shoemaker don't plan to reinvent the genre–there will still be a desk, monologue, guests, and so on. But Meyers' sensibility is what will really distinguish the show (or not), so I'm hoping he and his staff conceive a show that plays to his more biting humor and news-y interests. (One thing Meyers makes clear: don't expect him to rap.)
But as I also say in the article, not everyone necessarily wants something, or someone, different in late night, where moving Conan O'Brien an hour earlier was considered a positively radical move in 2009. If you're a fan of Meyers–or if you're not–do you want to see him remake Late Night or stay the course? For that matter, do you want, or expect, Fallon to change his show for the 11:35 time slot?
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