WhileLate Night With Seth Meyershost Seth Meyers fears that late-night hosts are a dying breed, his comments are particularly bad news for one staple of the television genre. There might bemany great late-night hosts, but the late-night genre as a whole isn’t at its peak right now. A variety of factors have cost the format its popularity in recent decades, but the rise of podcasts is a major shadow that looms large over this segment of the industry. Traditionally, late-night shows were a blend of topical comedy, recurring segments, and interviews with celebrities about their recent work.
This ensured that no two episodes ofThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,Late Night With Seth Meyers, orThe Late Show with Stephen Colbertfelt the same, but all of them still followed a familiar, reliable formula.A lot of talk show hostswere standup comedians, interviewers, or television presenters before their more famous gigs, making them uniquely suited to the ever-changing variety show format. However, as podcasts grew in popularity, the medium’s ability to dive deeper into a subject with more sustained focus began to nip at the heels of late-night shows.
Seth Meyers Believe That Podcasts Are Slowly Replacing Late-Night Shows
Meyers Agreed With Jimmy Kimmel’s Fears About Late-Night’s Irrelevance
Speaking toVarietyrecently,Meyers was frank about the uncertain future of the late-night format. The host said that short of a major disruption to the industry status quo, “I don’t think there’s going to be a whole new wave of network hosts, in the way there always has been.” Per Meyers, this wasn’t entirely bad news since, “When you think about podcasts, they have just as big of a reach as we ever had.” Meyers left the subject on an ambiguous note, unsure of whether this transition was necessarily a bad thing.
The star said, “So if you’re a great lover of the institution of late-night talk shows, there’s probably some sadness in your future. But, if you love funny people telling funny jokes and talking to people in interesting ways, that’s always going to be available.” This outlook is one shared by at least one other late-night host, Conan O’Brien. O’Brien might be best known among TV viewers for his tenure on a variety of late-night shows, but it is worth noting that his podcastConan O’Brien Needs a Friendis arguably as popular as any of these projects ever were.
The podcast format, as Meyers notes, allows comedians to riff freely while also facilitating more serious and in-depth conversations with their guests. Many podcasts, like Scott Aukerman’s cult sensationComedy Bang Bang, even feature musical guests, much like a traditional late-night show. However, there are certain aspects of the late-night format that podcasts can’t emulate so easily. One of the most obvious is a TV institution that is now at risk of dying out as the format fails to gain momentum, namely the late-night monologue composed primarily of timely satirical jokes based on daily news.
Podcasts Can’t Replicate Late-Night’s Monologues
The Late-Night Format Is Uniquely Suited To Timely Monologues
Podcasts offer viewers a world of improvisational comedy and, with their looser structure, the format might even be a better, more satisfying way for interviewers to speak to artists. However,it is effectively impossible to pull off a traditional late-night monologue in a podcast, both due to their release schedules and the format itself. According to Nick Riccardo, writing forLateNighter, the late-night monologue has been a staple of the genre since Steve Allen began developingThe Tonight Showfor NBC in the ‘50s.
Johnny Carson went on to hone the format and, by the ‘80s,Late Night with David Letterman’s eponymous host had set the format in stone. Everyone from Jay Leno to Conan O’Brien would go on to borrow this tradition, and now Colbert, Kimmel, and Meyers all rely on their nightly monologue for many of their biggest laughs and most viral moments. For years, Meyers included fellowSaturday Night Livealumnus John Mulaney amongthe writers ofLate Night With Seth Meyers, ensuring his monologue gags were worthy of television’s biggest variety show.
For one thing, visuals are very important for a lot of punchlines, and for another, the hosts usually react to the live audience’s reception of risky gags in real-time.
However, the monologue can’t simply be transferred to the medium of podcasting without losing some of its central appeal. For one thing, visuals are very important for a lot of punchlines, and for another, the hosts usually react to the live audience’s reception of risky gags in real-time. Podcasts don’t have this option, as they are typically pre-recorded. This makes the monologue feel less playful and engaged, resulting in a more rote, staid pre-recorded set.
Why The Monologue Has Become Late-Night’s Most Important Segment
Topical News Coverage Is Now The Primary Appeal of the Format
The late-night host’s monologue is central to the appeal of these shows, since this segment offers something that isn’t available elsewhere, arguably in a more polished format, from other entertainers. Anyone who wants to see a quirky interview with their favorite singer or actor can watch them eat spicy wings on “Hot Ones” or answer 73 questions fromVogueon the magazine’sYouTubechannel. Anyone who wants to hear comedians goof off and do looser, more improvisational work can check out their personal podcast projects.
However, shows likeThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, orConan O’Brien’s current late-night stinton Late Night With Seth Meyersare the only ones that offer real-time reactions to news events with the added benefit of an in-house audience’s reactions. For viewers who want to digest the news via a lighter, more comedic source, late-night monologues often touch on major news stories without centering their focus on heavier political issues. In contrast, political podcasts tend to have a definitive perspective and a more pointed style of commentary.
Late-night hosts do seem to be a dying breed as projects like CBS’sAfter Midnightare canceled and new late-night shows are seemingly slow to replace them.
Viewers who want a lighter look at the daily news may be out of luck soonif Meyers’ warnings about the late-night format prove prescient. Late-night hosts do seem to be a dying breed as projects like CBS’sAfter Midnightare canceled and new late-night shows are seemingly slow to replace them. The appetite for accessible news media may be dying out as viewers migrate to podcasts andYouTubefor artist interviews and topical comedy, meaning viewers who love nothing more than hearing the host ofLate Night With Seth Meyersriff on the news should enjoy monologues while they last.
