Who Bombed Best? ‘Surprise Inspection’ by the Numbers

Seth Meyers is nothing if not a team player. But a few times each year, he turns on his own team—in the most loving way possible.

Since 2021, Meyers has been subjecting his monologue writers  to an on-air “Surprise Inspection,” in which he resurrects some of his staff’s clunkiest, weirdest, and most groan-worthy rejected jokes and then reveals who wrote them. “Honestly, a lot of the jokes, we have to discard them,” Meyers explains at the top of each segment. “Because… they’re just not that good.”

But who’s responsible for the most rejected material? 

To date, Late Night with Seth Meyers has aired 21 installments of “Surprise Inspection,” for a total of 220 jokes. Listed below, from least to most appearances, are each of the eight writers attributed to at least one of those jokes. (Note that 14 jokes have been featured without attribution.) 

Jenny Hagel: 1 joke

That Jenny Hagel appears here at all would appear to be a bit of a fluke, as like Amber Ruffin, John Lutz, Jermaine Affonso, Seth Reiss, and Ben Warheit, she is credited as a sketch writer on Late Night, not a monologue writer.  None of her sketch-writing colleagues made this list, and neither had Hagel until just this past week.

Alex Baze: 3 jokes

The integrity of the segment is on full display with the inclusion of head writer Alex Baze, who also created “Surprise Inspection.” That hasn’t stopped him from submitting a few of his own  duds. “Baze actually came up with this idea to shame the writing staff,” Meyers noted after one groaner, “and then even he realized he’s done some bad things.”

Karen Chee: 9 jokes

What does Karen know? Well, stellar joke-writing for one. Karen Chee left Late Night in early 2023, giving her a natural advantage in these rankings. But even during her tenure, she kept her “Surprise” appearances to a minimum.

Allison Hord: 18 jokes

Hord rarely makes it through an inspection untouched, but her jokes often land surprisingly well with the audience. “I gotta be honest,” Meyers once said after reading one of hers, “Ally’s jokes always kind of work.” In fact, her official count would be 19, but Meyers retroactively decided one of her entries didn’t belong in the burn pile after all.

Ian Morgan: 25 jokes

Morgan’s jokes are often written off as dad humor—sometimes literally. “That’s not even a dad joke, that’s a deadbeat dad joke,” Meyers once quipped. Morgan’s count likely would have been higher had he not left the show in early 2024, but for a time, he was a strong contender for second place.

Matt Goldich: 40 jokes

Goldich is known for slipping in obscure pop culture references—the kind that work better on paper than in a punchline. He’s also the only writer Meyers has publicly chastised for requesting that his staff photo be updated mid-run. The host roasted the decision again in a “Corrections” segment, solidifying Goldich’s place in Surprise Inspection lore.

Bryan Donaldson: 42 jokes

If a joke ends with a food pun, odds are it’s Donaldson’s. “He did still have the nerve to cash a check this week,” Meyers muttered after reading the line “traffic yam.” Still, there’s a certain immunity that comes with fatherhood: “Bryan is a dad,” Meyers said. “So it’s okay for him to tell a stupid f*cking dad joke. It’s legal.”

Mike Scollins: 67 jokes

If you’ve ever winced during “Surprise Inspection,” Mike Scollins is probably to blame, whether it’s a joke involving a dead celebrity, disturbing imagery, or some other boundary-pushing punchline. He’s the undisputed king of rejected jokes.

“It’s almost as though when he writes his jokes, he’s hoping they’ll show up in ‘Surprise Inspection,’” Meyers has said, and the data backs that up.

Scollins was even honored with his own half-segment tribute—dubbed “Oops All Scollins”—after serving as the staff’s strike captain during the 2023 WGA walkout. That episode alone featured five of his jokes. 

He holds the record for most rejected jokes in a single installment (six, on two occasions), and is responsible for the segment’s first-ever jump scare.Scollins may be a menace, but he’s their menace.