In the aftermath of CBS canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Seth Meyers admitted that he’d worry for his mental health if NBC pulled the plug on his own “Late Night.”
“I would worry about myself, like, mental health-wise,” Meyers said on Monday’s “Armchair Expert” when asked how it would feel to say goodbye to his late night talk show “tomorrow.”
He added that he’s absolutely contemplated what his future would look like if he were to no longer sitting at his desk, saying he could potentially lean harder into stand-up as a way to explore other comedy avenues.
However, the host and comedian said he’s “put a lot of thought” into “diversifying my skill set.”
“Certainly, financially, I could have been fine just doing the show for the last 11 years. But then it was like, ‘Oh, you know what? I feel like there’s something to trying to build a stand-up career and trying to do other things.’”
The airing of Meyers’ revelation came in light of CBS’ decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s long-running “The Late Show” in the days following the host’s criticisms of Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump. Meyers’ “Armchair Expert” episode was recorded prior to the news of “The Late Show’s” cancelation.
While CBS maintained that the show was canceled for “financial” reasons, the move led to widespread speculation that Trump pushed the hands of the network’s executives. Most recently, the president’s camp stated that “The View” could be the next show to be “pulled off air,” only charging up theories about Trump’s supposed involvement.
Meyers said that at a certain point, the decision is above him.
“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 said.
“I guess that’s better than thinking it’s your fault, but it is weird to not feel any control over it,” he went on, sharing that he believes “this isn’t the best time” to be in late night. “If there’s a breakthrough over the 11 years of doing the show, [it’s] just show up and do the work. That’s the only part they’re paying you to do. It’s the only part you’re good at. All the other problems, we have people that are as good at that as you are at the thing you do — and don’t mess around with it.”
Meyers explained that this wouldn’t be his first rodeo when it comes to facing challenges with his talk show, noting that some executives weren’t too convinced from the jump that he would last.
“Whatever time we’re living in now, I’ve had lower points in the body of the show,” he said, “Early on in the show, we had some NBC executives actually say to us, ‘We’re very worried about how the show’s going to go.’”
At the end of the day, Meyers said he’s grateful he’s been able to build a legacy that people respect and enjoy.
“I sometimes take stock of, oh, this isn’t the best time to be doing what I’m doing, but at least I got in,” he shared. “I think the body of my work matters enough that the world knows Seth Meyers in a way that I’m happy with … I’ve taken my opportunity to build a thing. I know what it means, and I think other people know what it means. So I’m happy about that.”
Watch the episode below:
