Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers
Meyers in 2015
Birth name	Seth Adam Meyers
Born	(1973-12-28) December 28, 1973 Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	2001–present
Genres	Satire/political satire/news satire, improvisational comedy, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	American politics, American culture, current events, pop culture, mass media/news media
Influences	David Letterman, Monty Python,[1] Steve Martin,[2] Dennis Miller[3]
Spouse	Alexi Ashe (m. 2013)
Parent(s)	Laurence Meyers, Jr. Hilary Meyers
Relative(s)	Josh Meyers

Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973)^[4] is an American comedian, writer, producer, television host, actor, and voice actor. He currently hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers, a late-night talk show that airs on NBC. Prior to that, he was a head writer for NBC's Saturday Night Live (2001–2014) and hosted its news parody segment Weekend Update.

He also hosted the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2014, starred in the animated Hulu series The Awesomes (2013–2015), appeared in Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), and is the co-creator, co-writer, and executive producer of Documentary Now! (2015–present)

Early life

Meyers was born in Evanston, Illinois,^[5] and was raised in Okemos, Michigan from ages 4–10 and Bedford, New Hampshire after that. His mother, Hilary Claire (née Olson), was a French teacher, and his father, Laurence Meyers, Jr., worked in finance.^[6][7] His younger brother is actor Josh Meyers. His paternal grandfather was Jewish,^[8][9] and although Meyers has performed at several Jewish Community Centers, he does not consider himself Jewish.^[10] His other ancestry is Czech-Austrian (from his paternal grandmother), Swedish, English, and German.^[11] Meyers attended Edgewood Elementary in Okemos ^[12] and later graduated from Manchester High School West in New Hampshire. He then attended and graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, where he became a member of the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta.

Career

Before SNL, Meyers got his improv comedy start as a member of the Northwestern University improv sketch group Mee-Ow. 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,^[13] where his brother was also a cast member.^[14]

Meyers appeared with Brendan Fraser and Anita Briem in the 2008 3D film Journey to the Center of the Earth. He also makes a cameo in the 2008 film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist as a drunk man who mistakes the main character's Yugo for a taxi. He starred in the 2004 comedy See This Movie with John Cho. In July 2008, Meyers directed the web series The Line on Crackle.^[15] Meyers has hosted the Webby Awards twice, in 2008 and 2009. In 2009, Meyers hosted the Microsoft Company Meeting at Safeco Field in Seattle.^[16] Meyers hosted the 2010 and 2011 ESPY Awards on ESPN.^[17] In April 2011, Seth Meyers 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 CSPAN.^[18] Meyers was unaware that US intelligence had located bin Laden and the Navy SEALs planned an attack the next day.

Saturday Night Live

Meyers joined the SNL cast in 2001.^[14] In 2005, he was promoted to writing supervisor, and in January 2006 he became co-head writer, sharing the role with Tina Fey and Andrew Steele.^[19] In 2004, he auditioned to co-anchor "Weekend Update" with Fey, but lost to Amy Poehler.^[20] With Fey's departure, Meyers became head writer for the 2006–2007 season and also assumed the role of Weekend Update co-anchor with Amy Poehler.^[21][22] After Poehler's departure, Meyers anchored solo between 2008 and 2013. In the 2013-2014 season, Cecily Strong joined Meyers as co-anchor. In fall 2009, Meyers co-anchored two episodes of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday with Poehler.^[23]

While appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman during the 2008 United States presidential election, former SNL cast member Tina Fey credited Meyers with writing the sketches involving Fey's impression of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.^[24]

On SNL, Meyers has impersonated such figures as John Kerry, Michael Caine, Anderson Cooper, Carrot Top, Prince Charles, 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.^[14] 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 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." ^[25] Even so, he mentioned in interviews that he regretted missing much of the presidential election primary season.^[26][27]

Meyers performed in his final episode of SNL February 1, 2014. Strong, Poehler, Bill Hader in character as Stefon, Andy Samberg, and Fred Armisen as Governor David Paterson joined him at the Weekend Update desk.

Late Night

NBC announced 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 February 24, 2014 and his first guest was fellow SNL alumnus and Weekend Update anchor Amy Poehler.^[28] Meyers announced February 10, 2014, that the bandleader for his house band "The 8G Band" would be Meyers' former SNL colleague Fred Armisen.^[29]

Other pursuits

Meyers won the third season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2009, and donated the $100,000 prize to the Boston-based Jimmy Fund.^[30][31] In 2008, Meyers donated over $4,000 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign.^[32] 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.^[33] Meyers, along with Mike Shoemaker of SNL, created an animated half-hour series entitled The Awesomes, produced by Lorne Michaels' company, Broadway Video, that aired on Hulu.com beginning August 2013.^[34]

In 2014 Meyers hosted the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards.^[35][35]

Personal life

Meyers became engaged to his girlfriend of five years, human rights lawyer Alexi Ashe, in July 2013.^[36] The two married September 1, 2013, on Martha's Vineyard.^[37] Meyers' representative confirmed on November 21, 2015 that the couple are expecting a child.^[38]

Meyers is a fan of the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates (his father being a Pittsburgh native), the Northwestern Wildcats (his alma mater), the Dutch National Football Team and football club West Ham United in the Premier League.^[39][40] He is also a fan of Joe Hill's supernatural comic book series, Locke & Key. IDW Publishing gave him some of the replica keys they had licensed.^[41]

Filmography

Film

Television

As a crew member

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seth Meyers.

• Seth Meyers at the Internet Movie Database
• Seth Meyers on Twitter
• Seth Meyers on National Public Radio in 2008
• Seth Meyers Late Night bio
• Live from New York: It's Sunday Afternoon! conversation with Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, and Kristen Wiig at The New Yorker Festival, October 2010