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Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, television host, writer, actor, and producer. He hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers, a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to hosting Late Night, he was a cast member on NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live ( SNL) from 2001 to 2014. He served as SNLs head writer, as well as an anchor of the news parody segment Weekend Update, from 2006 until his departure from the show in 2014.
Meyers's paternal grandfather was an Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant from Kalvarija near Marijampolė in modern-day Lithuania.Stated on Finding Your Roots, February 19, 2019 The rest of Seth's ancestry is Czech-American, Austrian, Croatian (from his paternal grandmother), Swedish-American (from his maternal grandfather), English-American, and German-American. Seth discovered on the show Finding Your Roots that his family's original surname, Trakianski, was changed by his great-grandfather to Meyers, after his own father Mejer Trakianski.
Seth Meyers attended Edgewood Elementary School in Okemos. He graduated from Manchester High School West in Manchester, New Hampshire. He graduated in 1996 from Northwestern University in Evanston, where he was in the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. His college roommate was fellow actor Peter Grosz. Meyers majored in Filmmaking. In 2011, he was the grand marshal for the school's homecoming parade. In 2016, he delivered the commencement address at Northwestern's graduation.
On SNL, Meyers impersonator such figures as John Kerry, Michael Caine, Anderson Cooper, Carrot Top, Prince Charles, David Beckham, Ryan Seacrest, Sean Penn, Stone Phillips, Tobey Maguire, Peyton Manning, Ben Curtis (also known as the Dell Dude), Ty Pennington, Bill Cowher, Brian Williams, Nicollette Sheridan, Wade Robson, Donald Trump Jr., Tom Cruise, and Kevin Federline. His recurring characters included Zach Ricky, host of the kids' hidden camera show "Pranksters"; Nerod, the receptionist in the recurring sketch "Appalachian Emergency Room"; David Zinger, a scientist who often insults his fellow workers; DJ Johnathan Feinstein, the DJ on the webcam show "Jarett's Room"; Dan Needler, half of a married couple "that should be divorced," (opposite Amy Poehler); William Fitzpatrick, from the Irish talk show "Top o' the Morning," and Boston Powers (one of the comedians in the "Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy" series). In the season 29 episode hosted by Lindsay Lohan, he portrayed Ron Weasley in a parody of Harry Potter.
Meyers received critical praise for his part in several iconic SNL sketches during his tenure. During the 2008 United States presidential election, he wrote the sketches for former SNL cast member Tina Fey, who returned as a guest star to impersonate Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He created the famed if inaccurate phrase uttered by Fey's Palin, "I can see Russia from my house." While they were hosts on Weekend Update, Meyers and Poehler had a popular recurring bit, "Really!?! with Seth and Amy." Both hosts would take turns mocking people in the news, ending each point with a heavily sarcastic "Really!?!", which Rolling Stone writer Jon Blistein characterized as a "torrent of exasperation and bewilderment." Following Poehler's departure from the show in 2008, they revived the "Really!?!" segment several times when she returned as a guest. After Meyers left the show for his own talk show, Poehler made a surprise appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in June 2015 to join Meyers in mocking Sports Illustrated sportswriter Andy Benoit, after he disparaged women's sports as "not worth watching."
Additionally, the "Abraham Lincoln" sketch Meyers wrote for Louis C.K., done in the style of his sitcom, Louie, and the Girls parody, starring Tina Fey as the new Albanian "girl", were praised by critics as among the best sketches Meyers contributed to SNL. Meyers supported and picketed during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. When interviewed, he said, "We all know how lucky we are to have the jobs we have. We're not asking for much. You have to change the rules because people are watching TV in a different way." Even so, he mentioned in interviews that he regretted missing much of the presidential election primary season.
Meyers performed in his final episode of SNL on February 1, 2014. Strong, Poehler, Bill Hader (in character as Stefon), Andy Samberg, and Fred Armisen (as former New York state governor David Paterson) joined him at the Weekend Update desk. Meyers returned to host the show in 2018 and Paul Simon was the musical guest.
Seth and his brother Josh host a podcast called Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers; the first episode was released on June 27, 2023. From August 30 to October 10, Meyers hosted the comedy podcast Strike Force Five with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver to support their staff members out of work due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. He also hosts The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast with The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) which discusses the comedy group's SNL Digital Shorts.
While interviewing Jake Tapper on the December 4, 2018, episode of Late Night, Meyers said that while he does not consider himself Jewish (despite his Askenazi Jewish heritage on his paternal side), his wife is Jewish, and their children are being raised in that faith. Axel's middle name is the surname of Alexi's Holocaust-survivor grandparents. Beginning in July 2013, Alexi worked as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, assigned to the Sex Crimes Bureau. Since then, she joined Sanctuary for Families as an advocate for victims of gender violence.
During an interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Meyers said he doesn't believe in an afterlife.
Meyers's children, dressed as "murder hornets," made a quick appearance during one COVID-19 episode of A Closer Look, filmed in the attic of the family's country home. He is a fan of U.S. sports teams including the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Penguins (his father being a Pittsburgh native), Northwestern Wildcats (Seth's alma mater), and two European soccer teams, the Netherlands national football team and the Premier League club West Ham United.
A fan of comics, Meyers has cited Joe Hill's supernatural Locke & Key as one of his favorite comic book series. IDW Publishing gave him some of the replica keys they licensed.
Career
While a student at Northwestern University, Meyers began performing improv comedy as a member of the university's improv sketch group Mee-Ow Show. He continued his career at ImprovOlympic with the group Preponderate as well as overseas as a cast member of Boom Chicago, an English language improv troupe based in Amsterdam, where his brother was also a cast member. Seth references living in Amsterdam during Late Night with Seth Meyers. When a Boom Chicago show he developed was mounted in Chicago, Saturday Night Live talent scouts noticed him and invited to audition for SNL.
Saturday Night Live
Meyers joined the Saturday Night Live cast in 2001. In 2005, he was promoted to writing supervisor and, in January 2006, became a co-head writer, sharing the role with Tina Fey and Harper Steele. In 2004, Meyers auditioned to co-anchor Weekend Update with Fey, but Amy Poehler was selected. With Fey's departure, Meyers became head writer for the 2006–2007 season and assumed the role of Weekend Update co-anchor with Amy Poehler, although his cast contract was up around this time. He was asked to sign a contract agreeing to be just the head writer if he didn't get Weekend Update, but he declined to sign the contract, and waited to see what the plans for Update were. He considered leaving SNL altogether if he wasn't added to Update. After Poehler's departure, he was a solo anchor from 2008 to 2013. In fall 2009, Meyers co-anchored two episodes of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday with Poehler. In the 2013–2014 season, Cecily Strong joined Meyers as co-anchor until his mid-season departure.
Late Night
NBC announced on May 12, 2013, that Meyers would be the new host of Late Night in 2014, succeeding Jimmy Fallon, as Fallon became host of The Tonight Show. Meyers assumed his role on Late Night on February 24, 2014, and his first guest was former SNL castmate and Weekend Update anchor Amy Poehler. Meyers announced February 10, 2014, that the bandleader for his house band "The 8G Band" would be his former SNL colleague Fred Armisen. More recently, he and his Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions company signed an overall deal with NBCUniversal.
Other pursuits
Meyers won the third season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2004, and donated the $100,000 prize to the Boston-based Jimmy Fund. Meyers and SNL castmate Bill Hader penned a Spider-Man one-off entitled The Short Halloween. It was illustrated by Kevin Maguire and was published May 29, 2009. Benjamin Birdie of Comic Book Resources gave the work three and a half stars on a scale of five. Meyers, along with Mike Shoemaker of SNL, created an animated half-hour series titled The Awesomes, produced by Lorne Michaels's company, Broadway Video, that aired on Hulu beginning August 2013.
Awards hosting
Meyers hosted the Webby Awards twice, in 2008 and 2009. In 2009, he hosted the Microsoft Company Meeting at Safeco Field in Seattle. He hosted the 2010 and 2011 ESPY Awards on ESPN. In April 2011, he was the keynote speaker at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. During his introductory remarks, he made a joke about Osama bin Laden's actions while in hiding; namely, that bin Laden was hosting his own afternoon television show on C-SPAN. Meyers was unaware at the time that US intelligence had indeed actually located bin Laden and the Navy SEALs planned an attack on his location for the very next day. In the same speech, he mocked Donald Trump (who was in attendance) for his attempts in finding then US President Barack Obama's birth certificate. He also mocked Trump's intention of running for president, which many later jokingly said was the reason for Trump's later candidacy in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In 2014, Meyers hosted the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2018, he hosted the 75th Golden Globe Awards.
Influences
Meyers says that his comedy influences are David Letterman, Monty Python, Steve Martin, Dennis Miller, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, P. G. Wodehouse, Conan O'Brien, Norm Macdonald, and Jon Stewart.
Personal life
Meyers and his girlfriend of five years, attorney Alexi Ashe, were engaged in July 2013. They married in a chuppah on September 1, 2013, on Martha's Vineyard. Their first son, Ashe Olson Meyers (named after his wife and his mother's maiden names, respectively),Archived at Ghostarchive and the
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: was born at Lenox Hill Hospital, in Manhattan, on March 27, 2016. On April 8, 2018, the couple's second son, Axel Strahl Meyers, was delivered, unplanned, in the lobby of their apartment building. On November 24, 2021, Meyers announced the bathtub home birth of his daughter, Adelaide Ruth Meyers, during Late Nights Corrections segment. The family had an Italian Greyhound named Frisbee. Frisbee died in August 2025 at the age of 14.
Filmography
Film
Short film Short film Short film Co-producer Executive producer Cameo Cameo 2024 Will & Harper Himself
Television
Episode "Rain on My Charades" 253 episodes; also head writer 8 episodes; also head writer TV special TV special TV special 2 episodes Episode: "Finale" 30 episodes; also creator, writer, executive producer Also writer TV special TV special Episode: "Dead Pets" Episode: "Premium Membership" Episode: "Mein Ramp" Episode: "The Best Washing Machine in the Whole World" TV special Episode: "Seth Meyers/Paul Simon" Episode: "The Viewing Party" Episode: "Most Hated CEO" 2024 Good One: A Show About Jokes Himself Mike Birbiglia documentary, also producer Episode: “Jack and Rose”
Specials
Netflix HBO/Max
Writing credits
Bibliography
Awards and nominations
2007 Saturday Night Live 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Series 2009 Peabody Award Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Series 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special The Women of SNL Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics Saturday Night Live for "Justin Timberlake Monologue" 2012 Saturday Night Live Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Ensemble New Year's Eve Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Saturday Night Live Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics Saturday Night Live for "I Can't Believe I'm Hosting" 2013 Saturday Night Live Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday 70th Golden Globe Awards 2014 Saturday Night Live Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special 71st Golden Globe Awards 2015 Saturday Night Live 71st Golden Globe Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special 72nd Golden Globe Awards Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special 2016 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Talk Show Episode Late Night with Seth Meyers Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series Documentary Now! Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Saturday Night Live 2017 Late Night with Seth Meyers Saturday Night Live Documentary Now! GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Talk Show Episode Late Night with Seth Meyers Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series Documentary Now! Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Late Night with Seth Meyers 2018 Dorian Awards TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) 75th Golden Globe Awards 2019 Late Night with Seth Meyers TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series Documentary Now! Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Late Night with Seth Meyers Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics Documentary Now! for "Holiday Party (I Did a Little Cocaine Tonight)" 2020 Late Night with Seth Meyers Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Talk Show Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Comedy Special Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Late Night with Seth Meyers Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby 2021 Late Night with Seth Meyers Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Talk Show TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series Late Night with Seth Meyers: CORRECTIONS People's Choice Award for The Nighttime Talk Show of 2021 Late Night with Seth Meyers 2022 Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Talk Show GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Talk Show Episode TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series Late Night with Seth Meyers: CORRECTIONS People's Choice Award for The Nighttime Talk Show of 2022 Late Night with Seth Meyers 2023 Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Talk Show TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series 2024 People's Choice Award for The Nighttime Talk Show of the Year Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Talk Show TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series Late Night with Seth Meyers: CORRECTIONS 2025 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking Las Culturistas for 'Best Vibe, Hands Down' - GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Talk Show Episode Late Night with Seth Meyers Astra Award for Best Comedy or Standup Special Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows Late Night with Seth Meyers Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series Late Night with Seth Meyers: CORRECTIONS Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special
External links
Categories: 1973 Births, Living People, 21st-century American Comedians, 21st-century American Male Actors, 21st-century American Male Writers, 21st-century American Non-fiction Writers, 21st-century American Screenwriters, Actors From Ingham County, Michigan, American People Of English Descent, American People Of German Descent, American Comedy Writers, American Expatriates In The Netherlands, American Male Comedians, American Male Film Actors, American Male Non-fiction Writers, American Male Screenwriters, American Male Television Actors, American Male Television Writers, American Male Voice Actors, American Media Critics, American People Of Austrian Descent, American People Of Croatian Descent, American People Of Czech Descent, American People Of Lithuanian-jewish Descent, American People Of Swedish Descent, American Satirists, American Sketch Comedians, American Stand-up Comedians, American Television Talk Show Hosts, American Television Writers, Comedians From Evanston, Illinois, Comedians From Michigan, Comedians From New Hampshire, Late Night Television Talk Show Hosts, Late Night With Seth Meyers, Male Actors From Evanston, Illinois, Male Actors From Illinois, Male Actors From Michigan, Male Actors From Manchester, New Hampshire, Northwestern University School Of Communication Alumni, People From Okemos, Michigan, Primetime Emmy Award Winners, Screenwriters From Illinois, Screenwriters From Michigan, Screenwriters From New Hampshire, Television Personalities From Illinois, Television Personalities From Michigan, Television Personalities From New Hampshire, Television Producers From Illinois, Television Producers From Michigan, Television Producers From New Hampshire, The New Yorker People, Writers From Evanston, Illinois, Writers From Manchester, New Hampshire, Writers From Michigan, Writers Guild Of America Award Winners
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