Seth Meyers grants closer look at his anxious writer brain: 'Always chewing its own nail'

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Seth Meyers grants closer look at his anxious writer brain: 'Always chewing its own nail'
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Conan O'Brien, Will Ferrell take aim at President Trump
Comedians, like Conan O'Brien and Will Ferrell, took aim at President Donald Trump as they gathered to honor Conan O'Brien at the Kennedy Center.
AUSTIN, TX – Seth Meyers' mind is always racing, he says in the back room of a downtown restaurant with stacked wine bottles and an antler chandelier. It'd be a cozy spot for one of his 'Late Night' Day Drinking segments, in which he and celebrities like Dua Lipa and Lizzo just let it rip.
'My writer brain is always chewing its own nail,' says the comedian, currently enjoying Season 12 of "Late Night with Seth Meyers," his NBC talk show (Monday through Thursday, 12:35 a.m. ET/PT). He's 'anxious,' because the need for more material never ceases. 'They'll give you credit for your last joke for about seven minutes,' he says. But at least he's been able to shop chewing his fingernails, which makes him 'very proud of myself.'
Meyers, 51, jokes that downing booze is the only way to lull his overactive mind to sleep.
'The only way to make my writer brain go to bed is drink a lot,' he says playfully, 'really fast, and I know it's unhealthy and kids shouldn't do it, but I think it makes for pretty good television.' And good stories, with which Meyers entertained an audience at Austin's Paramount Theatre for the opening night of the ATX TV Festival, between sips of a Negroni. (The festival concludes June 1.)
Kevin Hart, who appeared in a September installment of Day Drinking called Meyers and cursed him out the next day, Meyers told the crowd. After knocking them back with Rihanna in 2019, Meyers 'went home and fell asleep in the foyer of my apartment building,' he said, 'and she was definitely on her way out. I was like, 'This is the end of times,' and she was like, 'Oh, I thought we were pre-gaming.''
But Meyers' constantly churning brain can't conceive where he'll be when his current 'Late Night' contract runs out in 2028. Ever since James Corden left CBS in 2023, Meyers' is the last traditional talk show at the 12:30 hour.
'I can't picture a world where I would want to stop doing it,' he says. 'But I also have found, from the very beginning of my career in this business, you just have to focus on the day you're doing the show. There's no version of me getting ahead of what 2028 is going to look like that is going to be even close to right.'
Even Meyers' 'Late Night' start came as a surprise. He didn't aim to replace Jimmy Fallon when Fallon moved to 'The Tonight Show' in 2014. 'Saturday Night Live' creator Lorne Michaels, also executive producer of 'Late Night,' recruited Meyers, then the head 'SNL' writer and 'Weekend Update' anchor.
'The whole journey of getting a show like this is when you get it, first you just try to do a good enough job that they'll let you keep having it,' he says. 'And then the longer you do it, the more you bend it to your own personality and your own skill set. You stop trying to imitate and you start trying to be your authentic self, and I think we get closer to it every day.'
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'It's an industry that's constantly facing challenges,' he says. 'Late Night' lost its house music, the 8G Band, in 2024 to budget cuts. 'But I don't think anybody at our network thinks I'm going to be the one smart enough to solve the problems of, like, how to fix TV.'
Meyers giddily anticipates his weekly 'Corrections' bit, during which he addresses 'Late Night' mistakes. The political segment 'A Closer Look,' now primarily focused on President Donald Trump, is one of Meyers' most popular.
'At some point, you can't just accept his behavior,' Meyers says. 'So you have to keep talking about it. But ultimately you can't change his behavior, either. All you can really do is have the catharsis of sharing with people this idea that it's not OK.'
Meyers gets a welcome reprieve from Trump in his standup comedy act, which draws from his personal life. He and human rights attorney Alexi Ashe share sons Ashe, 9, and Axel, 7, and daughter Adelaide, 3.
Meyers and Alexi are in 'constant conversation' to make sure Meyers avoids 'anything about the kids that is traumatic, and we'll have to pay for 10 years from now,' he says. Alexi, whom Meyers married in 2013, 'does have veto power' over jokes about their family life. 'But she rarely uses it,' the host says. 'She roots for my success. So if I have a good joke where she's the punch line, she tends to let me keep it in the act.'
The audience at the Paramount Theatre May 29 erupted with laughter at a sampling of Meyers' slice-of-life comedy.
'I walk my boys to school, and I allow them to do Wordle with me on the walk because I think it would be rude if I was a dad just looking at my phone while I was with my kids,' Meyers said. 'But if all three of us are looking at the phone, that's parenting.
'I guess it was my 9-year-old (who goes), 'Ahhh, I got a word, but it's only four letters,' Meyers continued. A four-letter expletive that he shared with Meyers.
'And I said, 'Jesus!'' Meyers recalled. 'Then he goes, 'Is that five?''
Meyers responded, 'Yes, but it's a proper name.'