Seth Meyers fears losing 'Late Night' would affect his mental health: 'Scariest situation to be in'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Seth Meyers is opening up about his concerns over the uncertain future of his long-running NBC show.
The 51-year-old host revealed he’s bracing for the possibility that 'Late Night with Seth Meyers' could face the same fate as other axed late-night programs.
Seth Meyers says industry shift may kill his show
The comedian admitted that while he no longer doubts his own performance, he worries the changing entertainment landscape could put his show at risk.
When asked by host Dax Shepard if he had any fear about losing his job or employment tomorrow, he replied. “Only because it is such a time we’re living in as far as the entertainment industry."
“There is this weird thing [where] I feel like I shifted from fearing that I wouldn’t be good enough and now my fear is weirdly more outside my control, which is just at some point the ecosystem might not support it,” Seth Meyers said during an appearance on the 'Armchair Expert' podcast.
Notably, the podcast was recorded before Stephen Colbert’s show was axed by CBS.
“I guess that’s better than thinking it’s your fault, but it is weird to not feel any control over it,” he added.
'Late Night with Seth Meyers' has aired nearly 1,700 episodes since its debut in February 2014. The host said he’s aware of how dependent he is on the show’s future.
“I would worry about myself, like, mental health-wise,” he admitted on the podcast.
Seth Meyers explains why he built a stand-up career outside NBC
Meyers shared that he’s put time into expanding his work beyond late-night TV to avoid being professionally vulnerable.
“Certainly, financially, I could have been fine just doing the show for the last eleven years,” he said.
“But then it was like, oh, you know what? I feel like there’s something to trying to build a stand-up career and trying to do other things," he added.
“It’s more like, try to find something that makes you as happy as late night’s making you, but it’s not just to have busy work or anything,” he continued.
“It’s like, oh, I like these things, too. And there’s no one entity that can take everything away at once, and I think that’s the scariest situation to be in.”
Meyers credited the experience of hosting 'Late Night' with teaching him discipline.
“That’s the only part they’re paying you to do, it’s the only part you’re good at. All the other problems, we have people that are as good as that as you are at a thing you do and don’t mess around with it,” he said.
Seth Meyers recalls NBC’s concerns early in his 'Late Night' run
Despite his show’s success, Meyers admitted the journey hasn’t been smooth.
“I’ve had lower points in the body of the show where, early on in the show, we had some NBC executives actually say to us ‘We’re very worried about how the show is going to go,’” he recalled.
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Still, he remains grateful for where he stands today. “I sometimes take stock of, this isn’t the best time to be doing what I’m doing but at least I got in,” he said.
“The world knows Seth Meyers in a way that I’m happy with.”
Meyers’ concerns come amid the sudden cancellation of 'The Late Show' with Stephen Colbert, which led other major comedy figures — including Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, and Adam Sandler — to express public support for Colbert.
