By NICOLE PIERI
STAFF WRITER
On Feb. 24, Seth Meyers took over as host of NBC’s “Late Night” franchise with the debut of “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Despite a lackluster premiere episode, the former “Saturday Night Live” head writer and Weekend Update anchor had an overall impressive first week, filled with entertaining guests, original comedy bits and strong ratings.
Meyers kicked off his first night of “Late Night” with a clever cold open. Sitting at his desk, Meyers wrote “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon a thank you note, one of Fallon’s signature desk bits, and promised that he would only do “completely original comedy pieces… starting now.”
Fred Armisen, Meyers’s fellow “SNL” alum, then led the 8G Band on guitar with an upbeat theme song as Meyers stepped onstage for his monologue. Because Meyers has been mocking news and pop culture for almost eight years, the monologue should have been one of the highlights of the episode.
Instead, Meyers fell short. He was understandably nervous and uncomfortable without the safety of the Update desk. The studio audience laughed encouragingly, but this first monologue lacked personality and sounded too much like the comedy news segment Meyers did weekly on “SNL.”
Fortunately, the show improved greatly when Meyers moved behind his desk. He bantered with Armisen and then told a cute personal story about embarrassing himself in front of his wife. Next, Meyers debuted a promising original desk bit called “Venn Diagrams” that has the possibility of becoming a permanent feature. The personality that Meyers lacked in the monologue was very apparent in these segments as he became more comfortable and settled in as host of his own show.
After a second, weaker desk bit, Meyers brought out his ex-Weekend Update co-anchor Amy Poehler. Throughout the interview, it was obvious that the two are good friends with great chemistry. Poehler was a fantastic first guest for Meyers, and this interview showed that he is much stronger speaking to guests at his desk than Fallon.
Meyers invited Vice President Joe Biden to join him and Poehler, and the ensuing interview was just as entertaining as the first. Though they did not get into serious political debate, Meyers’s quip about Biden being the president of the NRA for finger guns while discussing a picture of the VP making finger guns during the State of the Union was clever and hilarious. The episode then ended with musical guest A Great Big World performing their hit “Say Something.”
The show, especially the monologue, has gotten stronger with each episode, and it seems that Meyers is gradually finding his voice in the crowded world of late night talk shows. He interviewed author Robyn Doolittle, a guest many hosts would most likely not have on their show, about her book on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, indicating that this incarnation of “Late Night” will be more news and politically oriented than the previous ones.
Even the set stands out among other shows. Unlike most late night hosts, Meyers arrives onstage by walking through a wall of blue squares that splits in the middle instead of walking through the usual curtain. It is evident even watching on a TV that Studio 8G is small, and the cameras do not attempt to hide its size.
Meyers’ desk is located on the right side of the stage, and the band is on the left, while most shows situate the desk on the left and the band on the right. The intimacy of the studio adds to the classic, New York City vibe of “Late Night.”
The first week of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” had very impressive ratings. According to a NBC press release, Meyers scored the second biggest audience for the show in the past several years and has been averaging a 1.0 rating (approximately 3 million viewers) for the first five episodes. Getting the initial high rating of viewers for the first episode is not as difficult as keeping those ratings up throughout the next episodes, but it looks as if Meyers will be able to keep these numbers going into his second week.
Despite a great debut week, it is hard to tell what will happen in the coming months, especially when the excitement of having a new era of late night on NBC wears thin. “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” however, seems very promising, and it will be fun to watch Meyers settle into his role as host in a studio located just down the hall from where he began his career.
