For almost as long as there has been a Late Night With Seth Meyers (which is officially 10 years, as of February 24) there has been “A Closer Look,” which is essentially Meyers’ version of a monologue.
Except instead of a traditional monologue, where the topic changes almost as quickly as the jokes fly, “A Closer Look” allows Meyers to sometimes spend 10-plus minutes engaging in a deeper conversation about the biggest news story of the day, which could be about anything from Donald Trump’s legal woes to Rudy Giuliani’s repulsive bathroom habits (note: there’s usually at least one Giuliani joke—even if the former NYC Mayor is not in the news).
With hundreds of “A Closer Look” segments in the can, you might think that asking Meyers to choose a favorite might be a lot like asking a parent to choose their favorite child. (Coincidentally, Dua Lipa did ask Meyers if he had a favorite child in their “Day Drinking” outing, and he drunkenly let it slip that he did—and who it was.) But, as NBC reveals, Meyers didn’t hold back when being interviewed by pal and former SNL colleague Andy Samberg at this week’s PaleyFest LA.
While discussing how proud he is of “A Closer Look” and the way it has evolved over the years, he didn’t hesitate in citing the installment he is most proud of—and gave the bulk of the credit to segment writer Sal Gentile.
“On January 6th, we were going to tape our show at four in the afternoon, and we realized, ‘Oh, we can’t tape now,’” Meyers recalled. “We don’t know what’s gonna happen—any jokes we make, anything we say now might be so historically dated in seven hours.”
To ensure that the information they were delivering viewers was as accurate as possible, and that any jokes would not have aged poorly in just those few short hours, they broadcast the segment live.
“We waited until 12:37, and [Gentile] wrote ‘A Closer Look’ that was basically, ‘let’s not forget what happened today.’ And it was so beautifully written,” said Meyers.
The segment had such an impact on Meyers that he has replayed parts of it each year on the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol in the three years since.
“It was just one of those days where you just feel so lucky to have a show to be able to say those things,” Meyers concluded.
You can watch the full segment below:
