In the world of late night, there are sore losers and then there are whatever you’d call Seth Meyers’ response to losing the 2024 WGA Award for Best Comedy/Variety Talk Series to good friend/fellow host/frequent stand-up partner John Oliver.
Oliver played guest to Meyers on Late Night Monday, where the two talked about their ongoing residency at New York City’s Beacon Theatre—and the awkward things that can happen when the show has ended and they turn the stage into a space for a no-holds-barred Q&A with the audience.
While Oliver noted that “we do tell people that they can, and possibly should, leave” before the interactive portion begins, Meyers said that he really enjoys this part of the show. He then explained how “a very funny thing happened [during] the last Q&A. Both of our shows had been nominated for the Writers Guild Award, which were being held that night. And the first person goes… ‘First of all, I want to say congratulations to both of you for being nominated. And John—congrats on winning.’ So that’s how I found out.”
“I would say you flounced off that stage in a huff,” Oliver replied, describing Meyers’ reaction to learning that he had been bested yet again as being like “an angered Elizabethan wife.”
Meyers freely admitted that “I did huff off,” then put on a British accent to claim “For this I will not stand!”
Meyers is known for frequently taking good-natured stabs at the Last Week Tonight host for Oliver’s tendency to rule awards season, including nabbing Emmy Awards for outstanding series (over Seth) for eight straight years in a row. But it’s clearly all in good fun.
Oliver wasn’t the only late-night host making the rounds on Monday night. While in Los Angeles for the Netflix Is a Joke festival, Jon Stewart skipped his normal Monday night hosting gig on The Daily Show to appear on both episode #2 of Everybody’s in L.A., John Mulaney’s six-episode live late-night experiment for Netflix and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Stewart will be back on The Daily Show Thursday, after Jordan Klepper hosts the first part of the week.
You can watch Meyers’ interview with Oliver above.
