Late Night with Seth Meyers Information

Late Night with Seth Meyers is an American late-night talk show that airs at 12:37 am Eastern/11:37 pm Central on NBC in the United States, Monday through Thursday (since April, Friday shows have always been reruns). The hour-long show premiered on Monday, February 24, 2014, and is hosted by actor, comedian, and performer Seth Meyers, former head writer and long-time Weekend Update host of Saturday Night Live. The show is taped at 6:30 pm Eastern Time Monday through Thursday.

History

The fourth incarnation of the Late Night franchise, originated by David Letterman, the program originates in New York City out of Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Meyers was appointed host when Jimmy Fallon was announced to become the next host of The Tonight Show, where he succeeded the previous host Jay Leno on February 17, 2014. The show opens with Ron McClary proclaiming "From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, it's Late Night with Seth Meyers!" and announcing that night"?s guests and The 8G Band with Fred Armisen. And Ron would introduce Seth with a drawn-out "And now here he is, Seth Meyers!". Meyers' first guests were fellow SNL alum and Weekend Update co-anchor Amy Poehler, Vice President Joe Biden, and musical act A Great Big World. The show's house band, The 8G Band, features members of the indie bands Les Savy Fav and Girls Against Boys, and is typically led by SNL alum Fred Armisen. Every episode features a coffee mug on Meyers' desk from a different NBC affiliate.

On September 2, 2014, the show premiered an overhauled set.

Episodes

Late Night limits musical performances to two per week.

Critical reception

The show has received mixed reviews. The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman referred to Meyers' monologue as "staccato and hit and miss "? sounding more like his "Weekend Update" bits rather than a real monologue." On the other hand, USA Today's Robert Bianco felt Meyers was "shifting the show to suit his talents," making the show stronger and more traditional than Fallon's.

Reviewing the debut week, The A.V. Club gave a B grade: The show begins with, "essentially, a carbon copy of Meyers' Weekend Update / 'what's in the news' jokes, presented as a stand-up monologue to open the show... More than anything, Meyers was arguably hired because he's such a pro at delivering quippy one-liners about dumb people in Florida... Meyers will settle in to the formulaic parts of this job quickly enough "? he's a pro, and it shows... There are other features, however, that offer more than a glimmer of hope. Fred Armisen is a surprising choice as bandleader, but he brings unequaled improv chops to the table, and his little banter with Seth every night has already proven one of the more reliably funny bits. Integrating him as much as possible is certainly a smart idea... Late Night With Seth Meyers is also promising to feature panel segments with fictional characters, something that's less prominent on late-night TV these days and definitely needs to come back in force."

A month later, Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the program a B+ and wrote, "In his first week, the very smart, very smiley former Saturday Night Live head writer gave stiff monologue, which was basically his Weekend Update newsreader shtick, delivered in his shouty, wiseassy, talk-to-the-camera manner, but standing up; he improved the more he connected with the studio audience. He rolls when sitting down. Meyers seems capable of creating chemistry and having quality chats with anyone, from riding the wild waves of Kanye West to spinning a funny anecdote with pal Brad Paisley about accidentally stealing a Porsche."