NBC apparently needn’t worry about Seth Meyers pulling a Taylor Tomlinson. Not only is he committed to Late Night with Seth Meyers through 2028, but he seems to be game for more after that.
“I can’t picture a world where I would want to stop doing it,” Meyers told a crowd Thursday night in Austin at the opening night of the ATX TV Festival.
He did caution that he has no idea what the future holds for his show or for late night in general. “I also have found, from the very beginning of my career in this business, you just have to focus on the day you’re doing the show,” he said. “There’s no version of me getting ahead of what 2028 is going to look like that is going to be even close to right.”
“It’s an industry that’s constantly facing challenges,” Meyers said at the event. “But I don’t think anybody at our network thinks I’m going to be the one smart enough to solve the problems of, like, how to fix TV.”
Also at play in the discussion of Meyers’ future is frequent speculation that he’s a possible successor to Lorne Michaels at Saturday Night Live. Michaels, who once suggested he might retire after the show’s 50th season has since disavowed any notion of retirement, and Meyers has consistently deflected any questions about whether he’d be interested in the gig.
As it stands, Meyers is in place to host Late Night through 2028 under his latest contract, inked this time last year.
Meyers is currently more than eleven years into his run on Late Night with Seth Meyers, which is no small feat. In fact, on July 19th of this year he’ll pass David Letterman for second-longest tenure as host of the Late Night franchise.
And if he were to stay at the desk through early August 2029, he’d break Conan O’Brien’s record for longest tenure as a host of the Late Night franchise (at least according to calendar time, rather than number of shows produced).
Meyers is already the longest Late Night host to serve without an exit plan. He’s 4,114 days into his tenure. Letterman announced his 1993 exit for CBS 4,001 days into his run, and O’Brien signed his infamous five-year Tonight Show succession plan 4,033 days into his time on Late Night.
