Contrary to popular opinion, Donald Trump’s presidency has not made things easier on late-night hosts, at least those with a political conscience like Seth Meyers. His first challenge: simply keeping up with the breakneck pace of one of the most unpredictable administrations in presidential history. His second challenge: sifting through the hailstorm of outright lies, accusations, and inconsequential insanity to find the issues worth presenting to his 1.5 million-or-so viewers.
“It’s weird when people say ‘this must be great for you’ about the Trump presidency,” Meyers told The Daily Beast in an enlightening new interview. “I feel it’s like being a gravedigger in the Middle Ages and people saying, ‘God this plague must be so good for business.’ You want to make sure that you’re not pumping your fist at everything that’s going on, because it’s obviously having such negative consequences for so many people.”
“We chase the Trump administration wherever they lead us,” Meyers continued, adding that he and his staff have begun to focus on the subject matter that seems most important to the public. “We’ve been trying to make an effort, especially in the last week or so, to really drill down on health care. Because that will have more real-world effects on people than the Trump white noise that comes out every day.”
Meyers also spoke about his January interview with Kellyanne Conway, revealing that he had a conversation with his studio audience beforehand “about the importance of treating all of our guests with respect—even the ones we don’t agree with.”
Even so, his studio audience still laughed at Conway. But they had good reason, according to Meyers: “There are things that Kellyanne Conway says that just feel like punch lines. Because to defend Donald Trump is to say things that are as good as any joke in a stand-up’s act.”
He also expressed sympathy for his dream guest, White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
“I feel like every day they say, Sean, you have to go put out that fire,” explained Meyers. “And they hand him a grapefruit. To be sent out for a job where the one thing you’re guaranteed to get in his position is questions, and to go out every day without answers is—I don’t know, it feels like some sort of Greek myth about a man who is tasked with this impossible thing to try to accomplish.”
“So much has been written this year about how comedy shows have to scramble at the last minute,” continued Meyers. “He has to do that to such a larger degree than we do.”
