especially opening monologue–he can tell the same joke Fallon told an hour ago, and get no response! And then he sits there looking silly, or repeats the joke before giving up
he was also terrible as host on SNL, except his reporter shtick
Hey, at least he’s not into scientology. And he really does have some of the best joke writers in the biz.
Meyer booked Alex Horne and Greg Davies when they were in New York to premier the most recent season of Taskmaster, and seemed to actually be familiar with the show. I’ll give him props for that.
Name/post irony! (As a South Park reference, anyway.)
So which late-night host IS into Scientology?
All this time, and no one has mentioned Colbert?
My wife records Colbert for the monolog and the “second segment” only. After the first commercial break, he always does some kind of skit. Every other day, it’s “Meanwhile” (where he pokes fun at lesser news stories. His intro to the segment is always an amazing lingual feat!); the others are always entertaining.
As for “tough on Trump”, I think I’d rank them as Kimmel, Colbert, Meyer, Fallon. There’s something about Fallon’s sense of humor that turns me off, and I think someone above him keeps him from skewering Trump. Definitely my 3rd choice at that time slot. Yeah, Kimmel has gotten under his skin, but Colbert shows some real hatred. And, yes, I love Meyer’s “Coser Looks”
I like Colbert too, but we don’t have access to a streaming channel that carries his show, so we have to resort to hunting for his monologues on YT if we feel motivated to.
Also, I think I misspoke about Seth Meyers being on Hulu-- I believe his show used to be on Hulu, but now is on Peacock.
Nobody I know of. I was just riffing on the post.
I like Meyers a lot. And ahead of Kimmel, who too often descends into the making fun of regular people kind of skits that turned me off Conan. (Never walk down Hollywood Blvd. in front of his show.) Kimmel can deliver a bunch of good Trump jokes and then turn the monolog over to a Pillow Guy imitator for five dreadful minutes.
A Closer Look was a great idea, a brainy diatribe on the day’s news while remaining funny. I think it started right about the time John Oliver’s show did, so I don’t know who influenced the other. Meyers’ staff didn’t have Oliver’s time or budget and they ran it three times a week, which is too many. The bit is popular and works well on Youtube, apparently, but even I find it mostly boring, with all the good points already beaten to death by the other shows. Because or despite this Meyers keeps in more of the bloopers and fluffles that everybody has some night. He makes fun of them with the producer and rolls right ahead. You don’t see much of that, but 12:37 gives him some leeway as it did Craig Ferguson. How to tell when other shows do? The camera shot will cut from dead on the host to a reaction shot of the band or audience. The vast majority of these hide something that got cut out.
Colbert consistently has the funniest monologs and Fallen the worst. He plays a 50-year-old boy. He’s not my style. But The Tonight Show continues to get the most A-list names first so I sometimes record it.
Colbert took two years to be comfortable with the show. So did Meyers. Kimmel took longer. But I believe that ten years is a dead spot. Everybody’s tired and no one wants to take chances because they’re scared rightly that no new viewers are coming in to replace the old.
I watch Colbert first, and then Meyers. Often the same jokes.
They really need to cut the Band Leader’s mic during the monologue.
It seems like I watch like many of you fine folks. The opening, the thing after the first break, then Delete. With a few exceptions, and if a good musical guest comes on later.
Yeah, that’s the pattern.
Unless the guest is John Oliver. Then we watch the interview.
It’s fun to see the differences. I don’t like Fallon at all. I think all of his jokes are forced to me. I don’t prefer Kimmel but he didn’t do politics until some politician showed up, promised him changes were coming, then didn’t and lied to him about it. Then he started doing politics more, as I understand it, but I don’t watch him. I used to watch Colbert all the time but now irregularly watch a monologue or two. I watch a lot of Meyers. I enjoy his Closer Look and surprise inspections. I think I mainly watch one because while they do different jokes, as someone said, they do the highlights. I don’t need to hear it twice.
Yes! I agree with that!
Meyers also has (or used to have) a segment called “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell” where he’d tell a joke and his writers Amber Ruffin and Jenny Hagel supply the punchlines that he would be ill-advised to say.
Still does.
Good to know. I wasn’t sure if Amber had returned after her show ended.
Deleted, answered above
We used to watch Colbert as the main late night show but have now switched to Meyer.
It’s far from perfect. E.g., waaaay too much SNL connected stuff on the show. Sometimes all the guests on an episode are either current/former cast members or guest hosts. (Which he drones on about.) And Meyer needs to admit his family’s alcohol problems and stop drinking. Day drinking is really distasteful, esp. given his family background.
Other regular bits are generally good. But the real winner is Corrections which is only online. I was really bummed when he announced he wasn’t going to do them anymore. But, as it turns out …
And then there’s the strangeness with Fred Armison. Rarely there and when he’s there I pray he doesn’t do a bit with Seth which invariably bombs badly. Just fire the guy.
Does anyone know why Seth never talks with the other band members, nor mention when there’s a non-drummer sub, etc.?
Whoops. In checking I see that NBC is firing the whole band. It will be all pre-taped stuff starting next season. (Meyer has been reupped thru 2028.)
This is the state of late night talk shows. Declining audiences and streaming is really hurting them. Hence CBS not continuing with a talk show in the 12:35 slot.
Back in the day something like 40% of NBC’s profits came from the Carson Tonight show. Cheap to make, lousy competition, popular with advertisers. Not at all like that anymore.
Since this veered into all the shows with a mention of John Oliver, I’m going to recommend the Strike Force Five podcast that all of them put out during the writer’s strike. It was/is a hilarious listen. We listened while doing our long drive to and from the trailheads and there were times I probably should’ve pulled over due to out of control laughing.
Why does he have to skewer Trump? Is that a talk show requirement? The Tonight Show has been non-partisan for basically its entire run. Since Carson they have made mild jokes about the president but didn’t go that hard. Some people just don’t want to be bombarded with politics when they are laying in bed at the end of the day they just want to watch some silly entertainment.
But I agree he turns me off. Not necessarily his sense of humor but his delivery. I would rather watch Kimmel skewering Trump for the first 15 minutes.