“Write to the Future of the Show” Seth Meyers and Alex Baze talk ‘Late Night’
When NBC offered Seth Meyers the Late Night desk, one condition was non-negotiable: Alex Baze was coming with him. “Alex was running ‘Update’ at the time and not only running it, but writing the jokes that I was always the most excited to tell,” Meyers recalls. “The idea of doing it without him was just terrifying to me.”
The negotiation with SNL producer Lorne Michaels became a memorable moment in television comedy lore. “I walked in for the purposes of telling him I wanted to bring Baze,” Meyers remembers. “I don’t know if somebody told him or not, but I do remember I walked in and he said, ‘you can’t have Baze.'”
What followed was vintage Michaels. “It’s what is still to this day one of my favorite bits Lorne’s ever done with me,” Meyers laughs. “He started listing off all his least favorite writers and telling me that he thought they would be a really good fit for my voice. And then he relented.”
The arrangement that emerged was uniquely demanding. Baze continued writing for Update while launching Late Night. “I did. For maybe most of the next season, I went in on Saturdays. So I was doing Late Night all week and then ‘Update’ on Saturdays.” Meyers hosted the Emmys that year as well. “I lost 20 pounds that year,” he jokes about the stress.
Read full interview HERE.