Seth Meyers Takes over NBC’s “Late Night”
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Peter Kramer/NBC(NEW YORK) — The Seth Meyers-era on NBC’s Late Night began Monday night with the former Saturday Night Live star taking over hosting duties from Jimmy Fallon, who moved on and replaced Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.
Meyers launched his Late Night show with a “cold open” that mimicked Fallon’s “thank you notes” bit. Meyers thanked Fallon and vowed to treat Late Night “with respect and dignity and to only use it for original comedy pieces…starting now.”
Meyers delivered a monologue that included about a dozen jokes on a wide variety of topics, including the Olympics, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, old people and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
He joked, “Well, the Winter Olympics came to an end in Sochi last night so for the next four years if you go skiing with a rifle on your back, you’re just a crazy person.”
Meyers also noted, “The brassiere turns 100 years old this week and so does everyone who still calls it a brassiere.”
The former SNL cast member made a point of thanking his parents, his brother and his wife for their support.
Meyers also did a bit entitled “Venn Diagrams” where he finds common ground in what appears to be two unrelated topics. For example: Snow and toilet paper are “things you won’t find in Sochi.” Another example: Sports Illustrated swimsuit models and the movie Gravity are “Things George Clooney has been in.”
Meyers’ guests were his old “Weekend Update” co-anchor, Amy Poehler, Vice President Joe Biden and the musical duo A Great Big World.
During her chat, Poehler announced an apology to George Clooney for the jokes she and Tina Fey made about the actor at the Golden Globe Awards. Poehler told Meyers she wanted to use his show to tell Clooney she surrenders and “to wave the white flag.”
“He’s a master prankster and I want to say something that no woman has said to him: George, please stop,” she said of Clooney.
Clooney had responded to the jokes about himself and his Monuments Men co-star Matt Damon by sending Poehler and Fey a letter on fake Damon stationary expressing mock anger. Poehler and Fey then sent two fruit baskets to Damon, accompanied by an apology and a second note in which they suspected the entire thing was a Clooney prank.
On a separate note, Poehler told Meyers he’s going to be good at his Late Night job because she’s watched him “for 13 years pretend to listen to people.”
When Meyers asked Biden about possible political plans for 2016, the vice president replied, “I planned to make a major announcement tonight” before turning to Meyers and adding, “But I decided tonight’s your night.”
When Meyers asked Poehler about her plans for 2016, she didn’t hold back and declared, “I’m going to run for president.”
Biden was a recent guest on Poehler’s series Parks & Recreation.
Meyers’ house band, dubbed the “8G Band” after his show’s studio home at NBC’s New York headquarters, is led by his former SNL co-star, Fred Armisen.
A Great Big World performed their ballad “Say Something.”
Late Night with Seth Meyers welcomes Kanye West Tuesday night.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio