Seth Meyers has been hosting “Late Night” for 10 years now, but the host definitely still gets nervous meeting some guests. There’s one that stands out as “the hardest one” for him to keep his cool around.
Actor Paul Rudd stopped by “Late Night” on Thursday night, in support of his new movie “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and, as the discussion progressed, he and Meyers addressed how they talk to legendary actors they love. In Rudd’s case, he’s starred alongside Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Steven Martin and Martin Short as of late.
Rudd admitted that “it does take awhile” for him to work up the courage to just ask these actors outright about their most famous projects, and was curious to know if Meyers struggles with getting nervous around any of his guests still. To that, the host readily answered “Yes,” before revealing his biggest struggle.
“The hardest one was when [David] Letterman was here,” Meyers admitted. “Because you know the thing he wants the least is for you to be like ‘I’m a huge fan.’ Like, that, he would run away. And so, it was just like, ‘Just be normal.’ Like, having to tell yourself the whole time, just be normal.”
Rudd was particularly curious about Meyers’ approach to interviewing, and how he manages to just ask point-blank about certain projects with apparent ease.
“I think, ultimately, you just have to authentically say, ‘I always wanted to ask you this,’ you know?” Meyers explained. “As opposed to trying to find some back door in of like ‘That reminds me!’”
He continued, “You know, just be like ‘I’m just gonna ask you, because I want to know and I don’t know how much longer this party is gonna go.’ And that’s the most fun part.”
You can watch Meyers’ full conversation with Paul Rudd in the video above.