Wolf returns to Meyers’ ‘Late Night’
Letterman says he stayed on late night TV too long
LOS ANGELES, May 12, (RTRS): Michelle Wolf returned to the scene of more innocent days – NBC’s ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers,’ where she worked as a writer before her recent appearance at the White House Correspondents Association dinner catapulted her on to a bigger stage.
If there was controversy, the comedienne didn’t acknowledge it. “It went great, and every single person loved it,” she said. “Across the board.” She added: “Everyone loved it – even, actually Sarah Huckabee Sanders called me, and she was like ‘I loved it so much; I got every joke.’
Like many of the comics who have appeared at the event before her, Wolf’s performance in Washington drew mixed reviews. She poked fun not only at the current president, Donald Trump, but also some of his aides; Democrats; Republicans; and the press corps itself. I think she’s very resourceful, like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye, said Wolf of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary. “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. “And, Wolf on the media:” He has helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster and now you are profiting from him.”
She has a new show nearing launch on Netflix, and cautioned Meyers audience that it would likely contain similar humor. “I would have to say that if you hated the Correspondents Dinner, youre really going to hate this show,” she said.
“Standup comedy’s the most mysterious profession in show business, “Jerry Seinfeld told David Letterman during a Los Angeles taping of the host’s Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction …” a rollicking, wide-ranging conversation that explored their long shared history as comedians and occasionally diametrically opposed views on comedy and show business.
“It’s completely shrouded in mystery,” Seinfeld continued. “How do these people do it? How do they do it so often? Do it so consistently? Only other comedians understand it. Its like being a cop or a prostitute: you can only hang out with other people that do that.”
Now arguably among the most preeminent and influential comedic presences of their generation as they sat down at Netflix’s FYSee exhibition space at Raleigh Studios, the two in part explored their 40-year association. They first met around 1978 at The Comedy Store comedy club in West Hollywood, where Letterman was a favorite of its owner, the late Mitzi Shore, while Seinfeld was effectively non grata there because Shore disliked his act.
But in 1982, during the first month of Letterman’s genre-smashing wee-hours NBC talk show Late Night, Seinfeld made his first of many appearances on the host’s program and his subsequent CBS series “The Late Show” throughout his own rise and reign as an equal master of TV reinvention with his NBC sitcom “Seinfeld”.
“I was one of the first comedians on your show that was a big deal at that time,” Seinfeld reminded Letterman after the two were brought to the stage by Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos (clearly a longtime comedy junkie in his youth, given his spot-on recall of both performers classic comedy bits). I was the only guy at the time, the early 80s, that was welcome on your show and on [Johnny] Carson [and The Tonight Show] usually there was a bit of a wall there. If you were a Carson comic, you were probably not young enough or cool enough for Late Night, and vice versa, but I for some reason was able to go back and forth, and I was very proud of that in the early days.
“And I was very nervous,” Seinfeld added. It’s very fun to be with you now and not really care how I do, because for so many years it was so important. It was terrifying to be on either of those shows. Those were the only shows!”
“I know the experience of being with Johnny, nodded Letterman. If you didn’t do well, they would pull your show business license, and you would be gone. And many people did not come back from a bad experience on that show.”
In recalling his early career ambitions, Letterman had simple if not exactly realistic goals.
During a conversation that lasted for more than an hour, Letterman and Seinfeld shared views and anecdotes on a slew of topics, often playfully vying for control of the line of questioning and frequently revealing sharp differences in the way they viewed the art of comedy, the field of show business and their estimations of their own contributions to both. While both men were quick to casually dismiss high appraisals of their own work, Seinfeld largely displayed the sense of confidence, pride and self-satisfaction with his craft that so often informs his comedic perspective, while Letterman exhibited hints on the more self-critical and sometimes tortured approach for which he’s been known for.
In a particularly revealing moment, Letterman admitted he felt he may have stayed on the late night talk show stage too long.
“When youre in show business, its so selfconsuming and so egomaniacal that you only look at a very small focus, which is yourself. And if you have the energy and the ability to do that, you should do it but dont do it as long as I did it. I did it too long,” he said. “I should’ve left 10 years ago, because then I could’ve taken some of that energy and focus and applied it to actually doing something good for humans.”