Seth Meyers

Stories

Late shows return … with a lot to talk about

The late-night TV world boomed back Monday and everyone seemed excited to be there.
How excited? “More excited than the guy who went to see ‘Beetlejuice’ with Lauren Boebert,” Jimmy Fallon said. “More excited than the Jets fans for the first three plays of the season.”
Yes, they had a lot to talk about.
Boebert (a congresswoman from Colorado) and her guy were ejected from a theater, after being accused of vaping, groping and yelling. Jets fans were giddy until their new quarterback was injured on the third play. There was much more.
At 6:17 a.m. Monday, Jimmy Kimmel (shown here) said, one of his writers received this text from his mother: “Please don’t make tonight’s monologue all about Trump.” Kimmel shared that text with the audience and then … well, had a long chunk of the monolog that was all about Trump. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 3, 2023
Stories

After a l-o-o-o-n-g pause, funny docs are back

As the pandemic lingered, some TV shows rushed to get back.
Then there were shows like “Documentary Now,” the much-praised comedy. It finally returns (shown here) at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday (Oct. 19) on IFC (and then on AMC+), after almost vanishing.
“We certainly took advantage of the three-and-a-half years between seasons,” Seth Meyers told the Television Critics Association. “At this point, we were definitely the ‘Sopranos’ of IFC.”
And then some: “Sopranos” often had 15-month gaps between the end of one season and the start of another. “Documentary Now” had a 43-month gap after it third season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 17, 2022
News and Quick Comments

Good news: Satire survives and thrives

This is the golden month for political satire: The final weeks of an election ripple with possibilities.
And now some of that potential has been realized: “Saturday Night Live” is off to a strong start … and Seth Meyers (shown here) had a hilarious “Closer Look” special in prime time.
This should be the time when satire thrives, but you can’t be sure. In August of 2016 — amid snowboalling interest in the election — Comedy Central suddenly canceled Larry Wilmore’s late-night show. Four years later, it looked like COVID might mute all laughter. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 9, 2020