Following the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers shared his thoughts about what would happen if Late Night also came to an end.
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During his recent appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, Meyers discussed The Late Show and the impact of the cancellation on late-night TV.
When asked if he had any “fear” that his late-night career could end sooner than expected, Seth Meyers shared, “I do. I mean, only because it is such a time we’re living in, as far as the entertainment industry. There is this weird thing that I feel like I shifted from fearing that I wouldn’t be good enough. And now my fear is weirdly more outside of my control, which is… just at some point, the ecosystem might not support [late night].”
Meyers then said, “I guess that’s better than thinking it’s your fault, but it is weird to not feel any control over it.”
The comedian also explained that when it comes to his career on late-night TV, he has learned to focus on what he can control. He pointed out that it’s “just show up and do the work.”
“That’s the only part that they’re paying you to do. It’s the only part you’re good at,” Meyers continued. “It’s the only part you’re good at. We have people that are as good as you are at the thing you do – and don’t mess around with it.”
He further said, “I sometimes take stock of, oh, this isn’t the best time to be doing what I’m doing, but at least I got it. So I sometimes think, all right, the body of my work matters enough that the world knows Seth Meyers in a way that I’m happy with.”
Seth Meyers Also Reflected on the Lower Points of Late Night
Meanwhile, Seth Meyers spoke about the “lower points” of Late Night.
“Early on in the show, we had some NBC executives actually say to us, ‘We’re very worried about how the show’s gonna go,'” he said. “But in a great way, with like no real instruction as to how to get out of it. We just wanted to plant fear.”
He also admitted that he worries about his mental health if the show were to be canceled. “I would worry about myself, like, mental health-wise,” Meyers explained. “But I put a lot of thought into diversifying my skill set. Certainly, financially, I could have been fine just doing the show for the last eleven years.”
“It’s more like, try to find something that makes you as happy as Late Night’s making you, but it’s not just to have busy work or anything,” he added. “It’s like, oh, I like these things, too. And there’s no one entity that can take everything away at once, and I think that’s the scariest situation to be in.”