Seth Meyers has hit a major milestone in his tenure as host of NBC’s Late Night franchise.
As of this past Saturday July 14th, Meyers has hosted the show longer than David Letterman, making him the second-longest-serving host of the franchise—at least in terms of calendar days.
Meyers, who made his debut on February 24, 2014, has hosted the show for 4,167 days to date. Letterman’s own run from 1982-1993 lasted 4,163 days.
The achievement, however, does come with an asterisk. Thanks in part to late-night television’s diminishing episode orders, Letterman remains well ahead of Meyers in terms of episodes produced. Letterman’s Late Night lasted for 1,819 episodes, while Meyers will air his his 1,675th episode tonight. With Meyers’ Late Night getting roughly 140 episodes per season in recent years, that puts him on track to surpass Letterman’s episode count sometime in 2026.
Recent late-night news notwithstanding, it’s safe to assume he’ll hit that mark. Last year, NBC renewed Late Night through the 2028 season, and Meyers recently reiterated his intention to stay at the show for the foreseeable future.
Meyers still has a quite ways to go before he surpasses Late Night’s longest-running host, Conan O’Brien. As host of the show from 1993-2009, O’Brien’s tenure lasted 5,640 days and 2,725 episodes. If he keeps going at the current rate, Meyers won’t beat O’Brien’s tenure in terms of calendar days until August 4, 2029.
Meyers does have one record all to himself: he’s has already become the longest Late Night host to serve without an exit plan (again going by time rather than number of shows). Letterman announced his exit for CBS 4,001 days into his run, while O’Brien signed his infamous five-year succession plan 4,033 days into his.
Jimmy Fallon remains far and away the shortest-tenured Late Night host at 1,804 days and 969 episodes. Of course, he departed the franchise to host The Tonight Show, a job he has now held for 11 years and 5 months. Between Late Night and Tonight, Fallon has hosted an NBC late-night show longer than even O’Brien, both in terms of time and number of shows produced.
Seth Meyers has welcomed each of his Late Night predecessors back to the show as guests. He finally completed the long-sought booking trifecta last month when O’Brien guested on the program for the first time.
