A few weeks ago, I wrote about the first year of Late Night with Seth Meyers, the thrust of which was basically (A) I enjoy the show, (B) Meyers is a great host and interviewer, (C) it’s struggling a bit for an identity, and (D) the show compares favorably with the prior three Late Night incarnations at this same stage.
Having said all that — which was the culmination of an entire year — Wednesday night’s Late Night, taken as its own microcosm, is a great example of what this show can be and is more and more often doing. Granted, I have not seen every installment of Late Night with Seth Meyers, but Wednesday night’s show is a high point to date, and I don’t think it’s too hyperbolic to say that this was Meyers’ best show.
Everything clicked. First, Meyers and guest Lena Dunham had a great chemistry, which is also a good showcase as to why Meyers is consistently the best late night interviewer on television.
What put this particular show over the top were the two pre-taped segments that both killed. The one that’s getting the most attention is a sketch where Dunham plays her Girls character, Hannah Horvath, as she joins the Late Night with Seth Meyers writing team. What makes it work is that Meyers (as he so often did on SNL) plays it straight and perfectly sets up every one of Dunham’s punchlines.
(As an aside: A friend of mine happened to be in the audience for the taping, and he told me that he was keeping an eye on Meyers and Dunham while this sketch played, and that both were giddy every time the audience reacted.)
In the second, Meyers goes on a St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl in Midtown Manhattan (this is a very brave thing to do, even if you’re not famous) and basically gets drunk. (When introducing the segment, Meyers went out of his way to point out that he really is drinking alcohol.) Two things: Meyers is great just interacting with strangers (this really did almost have a classic Letterman feel to it), and I hope he does this more often. Second, Meyers can really hold his liquor.
Mike Ryan has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and New York. He is senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
