Late-breaking news scramble
Seth Meyers describes the ‘scramble’ when breaking news throws his show into chaos
Late-night hosts: they really are just like us. They scroll through Twitter as the workday winds down, catching up on the chaotic news cycle.
Sometimes, they see a breaking headline that makes them stop and think, “Wait, is this gamechanging news?”
If so, the scramble begins. When Seth Meyers sees a huge story around 5 p.m., he and his Late Night staffers at NBC have about an hour to process the news, research it, produce a graphic or two, and squeeze some jokes into his monologue or A Closer Look segment before the whole show looks outdated.
We asked Meyers, whose show tapes at 6:30 p.m. and airs at 12:35 a.m., what the past few weeks have been like with the onslaught of late-breaking headlines — and what he thinks of U.S. President Donald Trump calling Stephen Colbert a “no-talent guy.”
On major stories that break late in the day:
In the past two weeks, several stories have landed after 5 p.m., including Trump firing FBI director James Comey; The Washington Post’s scoop that Trump shared classified information with the Russians; and the New York Times story about Comey’s memo that said Trump pressured him to drop the Michael Flynn investigation.
“Well, at least the good news (last) week was the breaking news was in the middle of the same story,” Meyers said, of the Russia and Comey news.
“It felt like dominoes off each other, as opposed to things that were wildly disparate ... so we had a piece that was about the Russian connections and so we were able to layer on top of it: ‘Oh, this thing also just happened.’ ”
That’s what he did when A Closer Look mostly focused on Comey’s firing, which had happened the previous week, but he threw in a few jokes about the Russians learning classified intel, a story that broke just an hour and a half before taping.
The logistics can get complicated.
“There’s this scramble, both on the writing side, where everybody’s now trying to come up with a joke that we feel strong enough to go in the piece, but also more important, the production side, because they’re up against things like the limitations of actual time,” he said.
“You have to build a graphic, you have to pull the quote, you have to find the clip, you have get it on cue cards ... it’s sort of been a production boot camp since the campaign.”
On when the timing of a story is just too close:
No matter what, if news breaks really late, the show can’t do anything too in-depth — particularly during the increasingly viral A Closer Look analysis segments, which can run 10 to 12 minutes.
The production staff needs to start adding graphics at around 6 p.m. by the latest and get jokes for cue cards by 6:20.
“What we like about A Closer Look is they’re comprehensive,” Meyers said.
“So what I feel that we’re doing now is trying to make a joke or two about it, and then basically say to the audience, ‘Tune in tomorrow for a A Closer Look about this!’ ”
Sometimes, they get lucky and there’s a political guest who can add to the topic later in the show.
“Last Tuesday, Senator Ben Sasse was a guest, so we had a unique situation where there was somebody on the show you could talk to about the Comey firing,” Meyers said. “It wouldn’t be fair to promoting a film: ‘Debra Messing, is democracy under attack? Thoughts?’”
On the exhausting pace:
Late Night has evolved into more of a clip show, but at first, the show’s production staff (whom Meyers calls “unsung heroes”) wasn’t built for that type of output. Luckily, they’ve adapted quickly and also were able to hire more employees.
“They are not the kind of people who complain about things, that all of a sudden you realize they have a thousand-yard stare and you say, ‘Hey, are you OK?’” Meyers said.
“So we basically add a staff member every time we see one just staring off into the distance.”
On whether he’ll ever get House Speaker Paul Ryan on his show:
Earlier this month, after Meyers slammed the Republican’s new health-care bill, Ryan’s spokesperson emailed the show to protest the criticisms.
Meyers was happy to hear from Ryan’s office — he’s been trying to get the speaker on the show for months — even as he refuted every one of their talking points that defended the health-care bill.
“It’s very hard to get Republicans to come on shows right now who have not been critical of Trump,” Meyers said.
“Because what Paul Ryan wants to talk about right now is health care, he wants to talk about tax cuts, and he doesn’t want to talk about Trump, he doesn’t want to defend Trump. But he knows if he came on a show like mine, he’d have to.”
On whether he would be as gleeful as Late Show host Stephen Colbert if Trump called him out:
“I’m gleeful every time he adds someone else to his s--- list, because I feel like it raises my value of myself,” said Meyers, previously in Trump’s crosshairs after he made fun of him at the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner.
Trump also said Meyers has been trying to get him on Late Night for years but he only goes on shows with “good ratings.”
“So when Meryl Streep gets in there, Stephen Colbert, I really think, ‘Oh my God, I am in excellent company.’”
I’m gleeful every time (Donald Trump) adds someone else to his s--- list, because I feel like it raises my value of myself.