Seth Meyers is speaking out about Late Night with Seth Meyers being shut out of Emmy contention this year—a result widely attributed to the Outstanding Talk Series category being trimmed to just three nominees, down from five two years ago and four last year. (Late Night had been nominated in the category for the past three years.)
Addressing the snub in the latest installment of his weekly web-exclusive series Corrections, Meyers joked, “Our main show finished fourth. (Or at least I hope so.)”
But the category that seemed to sting the most was Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, which is also down to just three nominees (versus five two years ago).
“I think it sucks that our writing staff didn’t get nominated for an Emmy,” he said. “I think they’re great. I’m not saying they’re better than anybody, but there’s nobody better than them.”
He quickly caught himself in a very Corrections-esque spiral of deadpan deflection and accidental honesty: “This is not me, like, saying I’m great or anything. I’m just saying our writing staff is great. Am I a member of the writing staff? Sure. Would that also have been for me? Yes. So is this not really about me? Oh, you got me.”
As it happens, the one category where Meyers and team were nominated this year is Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series—for Corrections. This marks the digital series’ fourth nomination. It has lost each time before—to Carpool Karaoke: The Series (twice) and Only Murders in the Building: One Killer Question.
With neither Carpool Karaoke nor Only Murders in contention this year, Corrections faces three new competitors: The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains, The Rabbit Hole With Jimmy Kimmel, and The Tonight Show: During Commercial Break.
“I’ve been very bullish on our chances of winning the gold,” Meyers joked, “but then I saw the quality of the other nominees and, uh, my expectations are lower now.”
He added: “If I’ve learned anything from my time in television, it’s that if The Daily Show’s in your category—‘thank you for coming.’”
Win or lose, he closed on a heartfelt (if tongue-in-cheek) note: “We don’t need to be vindicated or whatever the right word is. We know it’s special… to paraphrase that psycho stalker from Love Actually: ‘To me, it’s perfect.’”
