For all the uncertainty surrounding the future of late-night television, Seth Meyers seems pretty certain about where he’d like to be five years from now: right where he is.
Appearing on the latest episode of SmartLess, Meyers was asked by Will Arnett where he sees himself five years from now.
“I would love to say in five years from now I’m still doing Late Night,” Meyers said. “I’m not tired of it at all. I really, really enjoy it.”
Five years would take Meyers comfortably past the end of his current NBCUniversal contract, which he signed in 2024 and which keeps him behind the Late Night desk through the 2027-28 season.
It’s not the first time Meyers has discussed what might come after Late Night, though his comments on SmartLess offer perhaps the clearest indication that leaving the show isn’t something he’s currently itching to do.
Last year, Meyers acknowledged on Armchair Expert that the future of late-night television increasingly feels “outside of my control,” saying he worried that “at some point, the ecosystem might not support” shows like his. He also said he’d deliberately expanded into stand-up and other projects so that no single company or show could determine his entire professional future.
But asked this time not what might happen but what he’d actually like to happen, Meyers put Late Night first.
He said the experience of hosting the show has also left him better prepared for whatever eventually follows it, much as his years at Saturday Night Live prepared him for Late Night.
“I think, like, what I’ve done at Late Night will be stuff that will help me figure out a great many things,” Meyers said. “And ultimately, the problem or the fear I had leaving SNL was like, ‘Oh, I’m so worried my next job’s gonna be boring,’ and this one isn’t.”
Asked at the end of the conversation about his fallback option, he joked that even after all these years he still has “no plan B.”
“That’s the good news,” Meyers added.
