Seth Meyers on SNL, Late Night and Knowing How to “Take the L” in an Argument: NPR

Note from Wild card Host Rachel Martin: Seth Meyers is someone who likes to get things right. This may be part of the reason for his success as a cast member and then as head writer Saturday Night LiveAnd of course in his current role as host Late night. But it was great to watch it in the context of this interview.

Obviously there are no right or wrong answers Wild card – They’re just supposed to be honest. But the moment that made me see Myers’ right side was when he criticized himself for not being honest too soon. Which then opened up a different kind of conversation.

Seth Meyers’ new stand-up special on HBO is My father is a walking man.

This Wild Card interview has been edited for length and clarity. Host Rachel Martin asks guests questions randomly selected from a deck of cards. Press play above to listen to the full podcast, or read an excerpt below.

Question 1: When did you feel most homesick?

Seth Meyers: After university I had the most amazing two years. She worked at an American comedy theater in Amsterdam, Netherlands. And I loved every minute of it. But I have never traveled abroad. I have never been away from my family. My family communicates a lot about things like watching sports together. And the huge time difference – I felt so far away from my parents, mostly on Sundays when I couldn’t even communicate with them during events that were of great value to us.

But overall I have to say I don’t feel homesick very often. I gave you a false answer, perhaps. I’ve never felt so homesick.

Rachel Martin Well, interesting. Are you close to your parents, though?

Myers: I am close to my parents. My parents still live in the house I grew up in, but one of the reasons I don’t feel particularly homesick is because my parents have an Old English Sheepdog and they’ve had a different dog over the course of my entire life, and I definitely Allergy to them. And I thought I was chronically ill all through high school. Then I went to college and-

Martin: You’re like, “It’s an autoimmune disease.”

Myers: Yes. Then I went to college and said, “No, it was the dogs.” My father was very frustrated with how sick I was. He believed there had to be a root cause. And so I remember we went to an allergist and they would do a prick test. And I remember driving up there and my dad was saying, “We’re going to figure it out. We’re going to make you better. No one should have to be as sick as you are.” And then they did the prick test and the biggest point was the dogs. And then we got in the car and he said, “We’re not going to get rid of dog”.

Martin: Take a couple of Benadryl. You will be fine.

Myers: exactly.

Seth Meyers speaks to President Joe Biden during a taping of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in New York in February.

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

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Question 2: Has ambition ever led you astray?

Myers: He does not go astray. I think sometimes ambition may have taken me away from my strengths. You know, being on SNL, obviously there were a lot of people that I was teammates with who had been on SNL and had solid acting careers outside of SNL. And I was greedy for that. And I mean, I think it’s the ambition, I was like, “Oh, I want to be in movies too.” And very slowly it came to my mind, and it probably should have come to my mind sooner, “Oh, this isn’t the thing I’m supposed to do. Like, I’m good at some other things, but being an actor isn’t one of them. And when I look back, I find that I’ve wasted a lot of time and put myself in a situation that I could have avoided if I had a feeling like, “You know, sometimes the ambition for something is misplaced if you don’t actually have some sort of underlying talent that you need to go along with it.” .

Martin: But you came to that realization yourself, and it didn’t take someone telling you that this part wasn’t going to work?

Myers: I mean, I have to say, I kept not choosing, so it wasn’t like anyone took me aside, you know? It’s not like your customers are saying “stop.” But at some point I said, “I don’t want to do auditions anymore.” And at that time, you know, some other things happened — I got promoted to head writer at SNL — and I realized, “Oh, this is an accomplishment and it should be enough for me and maybe I should give up this other chase.”

Martin: But this is more difficult. Head writer for SNL, what is that career path? It worked for you, but when you’re an actor, you say, “I’m an actor.” Then you have acting jobs.

Myers: Yes, but I think one of the things is that I wasn’t as much of an actor as the other people in the crew. I was a stand-up comedian and then I had this weird path that led me to SNL. And then you make that mistake, where you walk down the hallway and you see pictures of former members of staff and you think that because you work at the same place as them, you’ll have the same career path, you know? But it’s wrong to say that just because you’re hired in the same place as Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, doesn’t mean you’ll have their careers. And a lot of different people with a lot of different skill sets come through SNL. And so, you know, I’m so grateful that there was patience with my time there that allowed me to find what worked for me.

Question 3: Are you good at knowing when something should end?

Myers: Yes.

Martin: Conversations?

Myers: Conversations for sure.

Martin: Disagreements?

Myers: Yes, I’m very good. One time – I hope I don’t get in trouble for this – my wife and my sister-in-law were fighting one time. It was during the very charged Christmas holidays. There were a lot of people at my in-laws’ house. They were fighting in the hallway. And I came out and shouted: “You know, some people D-Step up!” They were both very surprised. But I —

Martin: It’s easier to end someone else’s fight.

Myers: I know when to walk away from an argument. I think part of it is that I often don’t want to have an L.

Martin: Yes. This is fun.

Myers: Yes. I think I’m happy to take the L in contention for purposes moving forward.

And another thing – I feel like I was more temperamental when I was younger and things were so hot on SNL. And there were definitely times when my gut would say something that would have ended the relationship with people.

Martin: Oh really?

Myers: You know, you were just arguing, and looking back, it’s all so embarrassingly petty, you know?

Martin: But you didn’t say those things, or did you?

Myers: No, and one of the reasons they don’t say is because of my producer and good friend, Mike Shoemaker, who works with me now and worked with me on SNL. I remember saying once, “I’m going to go tell so-and-so that he’s someone you know.” And he always said, “It’s a long life. It’s a long life. And the people you work with here, what you go through will happen to them – even to those who aren’t your favorite people – that’s bonding. And you will, for the rest of your life, need these relationships to remember what it was like.” This time, there will be more people than those who will attend your wedding.” And so I’m very glad I lived by the old saying: “It’s a long life.” Because if it’s someone you think might be your friend in the future, there’s no reason to burn it in the present.