Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973)[1] is an American comedian, television host, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. He currently hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers, a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to Late Night, Meyers was a cast member on NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2014, and served as the show's head writer and anchor of their news parody segment, Weekend Update, from 2006 until his departure in 2014.
Meyers was born in Evanston, Illinois,[2] and was raised in Okemos, Michigan, from four to ten years of age, and Bedford, New Hampshire, after that. Meyers's mother, Hilary Claire (née Olson), was a French teacher, and his father, Laurence Meyers Jr., worked in finance.[3] His younger brother, Josh Meyers, is an actor and comedian.
While attending college at Northwestern University, Meyers began performing improv comedy as a member of the Northwestern University improv sketch group Mee-Ow Show. He continued his career at ImprovOlympic with the group Preponderate as well as overseas as a cast member of Boom Chicago, an English language improv troupe based in Amsterdam,[13] where his brother was also a cast member.[14] When a Boom Chicago show he developed was mounted in Chicago, he was noticed by Saturday Night Live talent scouts and invited to audition.
Saturday Night Liveedit
Meyers joined the Saturday Night Live cast in 2001.[14] In 2005, he was promoted to writing supervisor, and in January 2006, he became co-head writer, sharing the role with Tina Fey and Andrew Steele.[15] In 2004, he auditioned to co-anchor Weekend Update with Fey, but lost to Amy Poehler.[16] With Fey's departure, Meyers became head writer for the 2006–2007 season and also assumed the role of Weekend Update co-anchor with Amy Poehler, though around this time, his cast contract was up. The show wanted him to sign a contract in which he would solely be the head writer, if he didn't get Weekend Update. Meyers refused to sign the contract, and waited to see what the plans for Update were. He considered leaving SNL altogether if he wasn't added to Update.[17][18][19] In fall 2009, Meyers co-anchored two episodes of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday with Poehler.[20] After Poehler's departure, Meyers anchored solo between 2008 and 2013. In the 2013–2014 season, Cecily Strong joined Meyers as co-anchor until his departure mid-season.
Meyers received critical praise for his part in several iconic SNL sketches during his tenure. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Meyers wrote the sketches for former SNL cast member Tina Fey, who returned as a guest star to impersonate Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Meyers created the famed phrase uttered by Fey's Palin, "I can see Russia from my house."[21][22][23]
During their time as hosts on Weekend Update, Meyers and Poehler had a popular recurring bit, "Really!?! with Seth and Amy." Both hosts would take turns mocking people in the news, ending each point with a heavily sarcastic "Really!?!", which Rolling Stone writer Jon Blistein characterized as a "torrent of exasperation and bewilderment." Following Poehler's departure from the show in 2008, they revived the "Really!?!" segment several times when she returned as a guest.[24][25] After Meyers left the show for his own talk show, Poehler made a surprise appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in June 2015 to join Meyers in mocking Sports Illustrated sportswriter Andy Benoit, after he disparaged women's sports as "not worth watching."[22][26][27]
Additionally, the "Abe Lincoln" sketch Meyers wrote for Louis C.K., done in the style of his sitcom, Louie, and the Girls parody, starring Tina Fey as the new Albanian "girl", were praised by critics as among the best sketches Meyers contributed to SNL.[22][23]
Meyers supported and picketed during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. When interviewed, he said, "We all know how lucky we are to have the jobs we have. We're not asking for much. You have to change the rules because people are watching TV in a different way."[28] Even so, he mentioned in interviews that he regretted missing much of the presidential election primary season.[29][30]
Meyers performed in his final episode of SNL February 1, 2014.[22] Strong, Poehler, Bill Hader (in character as Stefon), Andy Samberg, and Fred Armisen (as former New York state governor David Paterson) joined him at the Weekend Update desk. Meyers returned to host the show in 2018, with Paul Simon as the musical guest.[31]
Late Nightedit
NBC announced on May 12, 2013, that Meyers would be the new host of Late Night in 2014, succeeding Jimmy Fallon, as Fallon became host of The Tonight Show. Meyers assumed his role on Late Night on February 24, 2014, and his first guest was former SNL castmate and Weekend Update anchor Amy Poehler.[32] Meyers announced February 10, 2014, that the bandleader for his house band "The 8G Band" would be his former SNL colleague Fred Armisen.[33] More recently, he and his Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions company signed an overall deal with NBCUniversal.[34]
Meyers became engaged to his girlfriend of five years, attorney Alexi Ashe, in July 2013.[57][58] The two married in a Jewish ceremony September 1, 2013, on Martha's Vineyard.[59][60] Their first son, Ashe Olson Meyers (named after his wife and his mother's maiden names, respectively[61]), was born at Lenox Hill Hospital on March 27, 2016.[62] On April 8, 2018, the couple's second son, Axel Strahl Meyers, was delivered in the lobby of their apartment building.[63] On November 24, 2021, he announced the birth of his daughter, Adelaide Ruth Meyers, during Late Night's Corrections segment.[64]
While interviewing Jake Tapper on the December 4, 2018, episode of Late Night, Meyers said that while he is not Jewish, his wife is; consequently, their children are being raised Jewish.[65] Their son Axel's middle name Strahl is after the surname of his wife's Holocaust survivor grandparents.[66][67][68]
Beginning in July 2013, Alexi Ashe worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, assigned to the Sex Crimes Bureau.[69] She has since joined Sanctuary for Families as an advocate for victims of gender violence.[70][71]
Meyers's children, dressed as "murder hornets", made a quick appearance during one COVID-19 episode of A Closer Look, filmed in the family's attic.[72]
A fan of comics, he has cited Joe Hill's supernatural comic book series Locke & Key as one of his favorite comic book series. IDW Publishing gave him some of the replica keys they had licensed.[75]
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^Meyers, Seth [@sethmeyers] (March 30, 2014). "@mwachtel I did indeed go there. Lived on Tacoma Blvd" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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