If late night comedy on network television is dying, NBC host and comedian Seth Meyers may have inadvertently revealed one of the reasons for that — and admitted that he has played a part in bringing that about.
Meyers told host Dax Shepard on his “Armchair Expert” podcast that his goal — as the host of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” — is to make sure that his show is “cathartic” for him while he’s making it and for the audience as they’re watching it.
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Seth Meyers goes on the Armchair Expert podcast and claims that he views his ‘Late Night’ NBC job as wanting “to make a show that’s both cathartic to do and cathartic to watch.” pic.twitter.com/wqHq2AeTYG
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 29, 2025
Shepard began by pointing to the obvious left-leaning nature of Meyers’ show, asking whether he felt like people who agreed with him came to watch his show because they found it comforting in a way. What he didn’t say aloud was that having a show that leaned so far in one particular direction could potentially alienate half of the country.
“Have you felt over the years that it’s a bit of a dog whistle for people to come commiserate with you in a way that you’re like, ‘Ugh,’ I don’t, let’s put it this way. I have my own political opinions. I find one of the most boring things in the world is to hear someone else’s political opinions because there’s only two, but everyone’s saying it as if they thought of it themselves and it’s novel,” Shepard said. “No. You just declared you’re on that side. I get it. So, I would imagine people find you in restaurants and they want to bond over that with you.”
Meyers agreed, but went on to take the argument a bit further — saying that ultimately it didn’t matter if he was changing the minds of people who did not agree with him and suggesting that his show might inspire more of the people who do agree with him to get out and vote.
“Early on, people would say, ‘Do you really think you’re changing anyone’s mind?’ And it was ‘no.’ I would like to think that maybe we could, like, if someone’s like, ‘Should I vote or not?’ You would want to maybe if they watch our show, they think ‘You know what, I am going to get out and cast a ballot,'” he claimed.
“Yeah. Yeah. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone in America that doesn’t know how they feel about Trump,” Shepard replied. “I don’t think there’s one left.”
“I think that for us, we want to make a show that’s both cathartic to do and cathartic to watch,” Meyers continued, making it clear that he viewed his show as a place for liberal opinion first and comedy second — if at all.