For his first “Late Night” following the end of the strike, Seth Meyers delivered an extended “A Closer Look” commentary rather than book any guests. But before launching into that, he started with a heartfelt message of gratitude to friends and family, fans, fellow late night hosts and especially his writers.
Then, in what is this week’s hottest trend on late night television, he did a speed run through all the news he missed while on hiatus because of the writers’ strike.
Meyers started by thanking leadership at the Writers Guild of America for their “sacrifice” during the strike, noting the financial and personal struggles they endured leading to “the very fair deal that all the writers deserved.”
“I have friends on the [WGA] negotiating committee. Friends like Mike Schur, friends like Kay Cannon, who are not just talented writers but people who again sacrificed their time to work for all writers,” Meyers said. “And I would call them a lot during — I’m sure a lot of their friends called them during the negotiations — and said things like, ‘So? Any news?’ So I apologize for doing that.”
“But thanks for everything you did. I am so happy. I am so happy to be back in a room with my writers. I missed my writers so much. I was so happy. So happy to see them this morning. I will admit by lunch I was a little over it,” Meyers joked.
“They’re really talented. They just have a ton of opinions,” he added.
Next Meyers thanked fellow late night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver and Stephen Colbert, who formed the “Strike Force Five” podcast to raise money for their staff during the strike. “Being on the same page with them made a very hard period a lot easier to deal with,” Meyers said.
Meyers next thanked NBC and the “people who run this place,” adding that “even though we were on opposite sides during the strike, I want to thank them. They made some very compassionate choices about the people who work at this show and on this network and it did not go unnoticed. So they have my gratitude for that.”
Meyers of course nodded to his family, and then the show’s viewers.
“Look, I know when you do a show like this right? You know people watch it. It becomes a habit to watch a show like this, and I also appreciate that when you’re off for five months, you break the habit. So we really do genuinely appreciate you being back with us tonight, and we promise to make it worth it for you.”
Meyers ended the commentary by thanking the show’s staff overall for “their patience while we worked through this very necessary labor stoppage to get the gains that the Writers Guild fought so hard for,” jokingly referencing the “Fast and Furious” #family slogan.
After that, he spent five minutes recapping the last three months’ worth of news at breakneck pace. You can watch both segments below:
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