Late night’s current era of good feelings was on full display last night as Seth Meyers (taking advantage of a two-week break from his own show) sat down with Jimmy Kimmel for his first-ever appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Meyers—who Kimmel introduced as a “hardworking American treasure” whose own show “airs the minute ours ends over on NBC”—surprised the crowd as well as Kimmel by wearing a suit for the occasion, which is something you’d never see on Late Night.
“I feel like you’re at my funeral or something,” Kimmel joked of Meyers’ formalwear. “It’s very kind.”
In an attempt to clarify his decision to rock a more casual look on his own show, Meyers explained that “the reason I don’t dress up for my show is it is on later. It’s on at 12:30 at night and I realize no one who’s watching it is wearing a suit.”
“No one who’s watching it is wearing a sweater either,” Kimmel shot back. “You really, by that logic, should be hosting the show in your underpants or pajamas. Or nude.”
“All you ever have is good ideas,” said Meyers
Meyers quickly then took a moment to address what he felt was the elephant in the room when he shared that “I always feel like it’s unsettling to watch a talk show host as a guest on a different talk show. It’s like seeing your doctor go to another doctor. You’re like, ‘Why don’t you know why you’re sick?’”
Both hosts agreed that one of the worst part about being a talk show guest is realizing that the people you’re chatting up on any given night on your own show are doing the same on other networks. Kimmel’s other two guests on Monday, Riley Keough and Black Puma, have also both been recent guests on Late Night, and Meyers said that bumping into Keough backstage was “the first time I realized we’re not exclusive.”
Kimmel concurred, noting that “I’ll often see our guests—we have them here on Monday, then two nights later they’re over on your show. And I thought I was special.”
Which might have made it even more awkward when Kimmel had to break the news to Seth that his very own brother, Josh Meyers, has been making regular appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as California governor Gavin Newsom. (Fortunately, Josh was backstage before anything got too heated.)
But Meyers had a little bone to pick with Kimmel, who he accused of “pulling a fast one” on him. “You invited me to be on this show—this is very exciting for me, first time on the show—and I canceled my shows this week,” Meyers explained. “I realized you got me out here because it’s the first day of the [Donald Trump] criminal trial.”
Kimmel didn’t deny it—and agreed that it was a bad night to not be on the air.
Eventually, talk turned to “Strike Force Five,” the podcast that Meyers and Kimmel co-hosted with their other late-night brethren—Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and John Oliver—during last year’s writers strike. And spoke about the thing that longtime late-night viewers are both confused and curious about: how well the hosts genuinely seem to get along, which is a far cry from the late-night wars of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“I think people are disappointed by how much fun we had together,” Kimmel admitted.
“I think people long for an era where we all hate each other,” said Meyers, who likened their podcast to being “like an Avengers if they just got five lesser superheroes together and said ‘We want you to do a podcast about the Avengers.’”
You can watch the full interview below.
Love that Kimmel is still using the thunderclap when talking about Strike Force Five.
As much as I understand that the notion of suiting up for a TV show is a relic of a bygone era, I’m still a bit unnerved of Meyers’ refusal to do so. I know the gates flew open when Conan went casual when his TBS show went to the half hour format, but I still think back to a classic Letterman line “Would it have killed ya to wear a tie?”
*suiting up to host a TV show, that is.
Thanks for reading! I’m a fan of tradition as wel, so do love a good suit and tie on my host. Though, to me, the breeziness and familiarity in Meyers’ show complements the most casual attire.