Seth Meyers is hosting this year’s Emmys, which will be held next Monday evening. This is Seth’s first time hosting the Emmys (but he’s hosted other shows, like the ESPYs). So, this week, Seth is doing interviews and such to promote the show. He has a short new interview with GQ, which you can read here. I’m still trying to decide if one particular quote is Seth shading Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres. When talking about his plans to just do a straight opening monologue with old-fashioned jokes and no singing, dancing or stunts, he said:
“Nothing is more uncomfortable to watch than people who unsuccessfully aim for viral.”
He also says, “As the night goes on, more people are upset because they haven’t won—but the monologue is the one time of the night when everyone is in a really good mood. And positive. And optimistic.”
“People who unsuccessfully aim for viral…”? Huh. Jimmy Fallon’s reboot of The Tonight Show is pretty much a succession of stunts in an attempt to “go viral.” And Ellen DeGeneres managed one of the biggest viral stunts at this year’s Oscars, when she got more than a dozen celebrities to pose together for a selfie. So, is Seth throwing shade? Or is he just trying to be self-deprecating in a somewhat awkward way? Like, “I can’t do what those other hosts do, I’m just going to tell jokes but those guys are awesome.” The thing is, Seth is a really smart guy and if he wanted to say something self-deprecating, he would. I think he was throwing shade at all of the awards show hosts who stunt-queen and dance and take selfies during the broadcast.
Photos courtesy of Martin Schoeller/GQ and WENN.
Seth should host it with help from Stefon.
THIS x1000.
Yes!
Yesss!
Why aren’t you an Emmy’s producer?!
Now, I am SO hoping Stefon makes an appearance.
Sending my resume and suggestions to the Emmy people. I think Stefon should just randomly pop up in the most unexpected places every three months or so. We all need a little Stefon from time to time, not a lot of Stefon, just enough.
I would pay to see some Stefon!
This MUST happen!
Yes, stefon would be great.
Pleeeeeeeeeze x 100000000
I don’t know you, but I’m pretty sure you’re gonna be my new best friend. Mrs. Stefon Meyers HAS to be there. And human R2D2. This year’s Emmys will have everything…
Maybe he was thinking of Ricky Gervais shading everyone that time.
I love Seth and his show may seem awkward, but remember how long Jon Stewart took to get the Daily Show clicking. He was so stiff and uneasy the first year and look how relaxed he is now.
I think he’ll do okay at this, but I saw a full episode of his show the other day- I seen interviews and clips before but never a full episode- and I was amazed how bad the monologue was! Lame jokes, and he seemed uncomfortable. Hopefully the writing for this is better especially if he’s not going to rely on any other sort of performance.
Agreed. I like Seth and I think he’s really talented, but I’m shocked at how bad his talk show is.
I’m quickly dropping off the Jimmy fan following, and I haven’t really been a fan of Ellen for years now. But I really like Seth and I agree with what he’s saying
I think you’re his demo then. I’m rarely up late enough to watch these shows, but on occasion i’ll dvr.
Ellen is funny for daytime. Jimmy is hilarious in the small viral doses I see him in. Seth is smart, but strikes me as very much up his own …
He should be careful. He’s not as funny or as sly as he thinks he is.
I agree with you on all points and I don’t stay up late to watch either Jimmy or Seth. I work during the day, so I don’t get to see Ellen.
I just find Jimmy soooo far up the ass of his guests. Like… it gets really pandering and forced/awkward to watch. I used to love Jimmy – and I still love some of his bits. He’s talented, for sure, but he kind of gets a bit try-hard at times.
I like Seth’s kind of sarcastic, kind of mocking way. And I’m definitely in his target demo – I’m 24.
Maybe he should try and go for viral to get some laughs, because I’ve found his talk show rather unfunny. His opening monologue has some funny jokes but it’s like he’s trying too hard to make the audience get that they’re supposed to laugh at a certain spot, his pauses are always in the wrong places. His skits are horrible, those are the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen. I always feel so uncomfortable watching them. And I find his interviews are usually carried by the guest, they’re the one who keeps the whole thing moving along and interesting.
Maybe once he gets the hang of the show he’ll better.
Interesting. I haven’t watched yet but you describe exactly how I felt about Conan way back in the day when he first started. And he eventually improved.
I like Seth in movies and in SNL.
Me too. I watched some clips of his talk show and it was so boring and try-hard. He’s hilarious, but not in that kind of format.
Ellen was one of the worst Oscar hosts ever, and as much as I like Jimmy I can’t stand him as a late night host, so much ass-kissing isn’t healthy to watch.
Personally, I like my hoists to be like Gervais, very funny and to offend as many stuck up celebrities as possible.
Haha. All that gushing and enthusiasm is super annoying.
Thank you! Ricky Gervais is the BEST.
All that offensiveness has a price, though. He wasn’t asked to host again. Stand up comedy is one thing, but when you’re being paid to host an awards show it’s not the best idea to offend those receiving awards.
He was asked back. He hosted the Globes three times.
And when you look at talk show hosts, Jonathan Ross is sometimes borderline offensive ( and I love it) and he still works, although I wonder if somethng like that would fly in America.
I don’t know much about him but I can’t imagine him throwing shade at two powerhouses like Fallon and Ellen. To me it sounds like he’s saying their schtick just isn’t for him, that he’d be awkward at it.
He spend years on SNL throwing shade at everyone.
I honestly can’t tell if he’s saying he doesn’t think he could do what they did, so he would be unsuccessful, or that they were unsuccessful. Pretty clever wording with lots of built in deniability.
It’s Seth Meyers, of course he’s throwing at least a little shade… but not necessarily at Fallon or Ellen. There are a LOT of awards shows out there, hosted by a lot of different people with varying degrees of success. Ellen’s Oscar selfies was wildly successful, amd in many ways set the bar for viral awards show moments. There will probably be a lot of sad attempts to capture that same success.
Lilacflowers, of course but his new gig is a whole different ball game. I have to believe he’s smart enough to know not to trash his competitors. But like GNAT says, if he is in fact doing that this is a clever way of doing so. It’s anyone’s guess.
I think the word “unsuccessfully” sort of tempers the shade but I feel him. It seems that every morning, there is a new “must watch” video from last night’s late night shows. I will admit that Fallon and Kimmel hit the nail on the head pretty frequently but Ellen tends to use people I loathe for her schtick.
Nah, he wouldn’t shade them. I think he just meant that it can be cringey watching it sometimes. Which it can, especially as the night goes on and most people end up losers.
He said, “Unsuccessfully aim for viral”, so he isn’t shading Ellen nor Jimmy. He said that as a precaution to himself.
That makes sense since especially Jimmy usually goes viral. He is not unsuccessful at it.
I cannot stand Seth Myers. That is all.
+1000000000000
Yeah, his success is definitely thanks to the Boys’ Club that is SNL. I want to like him, but he’s a little too impressed with himself. And every time he says something that he thinks is funny, he stops talking and waits for people to laugh at him. Even though he’s constantly outshined by everyone else around him.
Should’nt entertainers AIM for viral? what do you aim for then? to suck? For no one to think it is funny? To only cater to a small group? Not sure what he means by this.
Apparently this is not the most popular opinion but i really like Seth. Yeah, his show is still awkward at times and the skits can be cringeworthy. But in my humble opinion, he and his team are still experimenting and trying to find their mark. That might take a little time but the talent is there.
And i agree with his opinion. I like the idea of toning down things a little, making them just about the jokes. Obviously that puts a HUGE amount of pressure on the host but it can be done. Ricky Gervais was great at that and in the end he also managed to piss off a lot of Hollywood types used to people kissing their asses.
I am not one to whine about these things because i am typically generation Y but i do understand the crazy pace of the internet made our attention spans terribly short. We can’t focus on anything longer than five minutes without a music number, stunts or things blowing up. No wonder Michael Bay makes so much money.
Which is why i believe this might be a good time for some entertainers going back to basics, just for variety’s sake.
Reaching. And both Ellen and Jimmy are successful, so if he was “shading” them it wouldn’t make sense.
Ellen, as an Oscar host was horrible.
Did you mean to reply to me? Even if you think she was a horrible Oscar host, she is still a successful talk show host in general…
Ups, I didn’t, sorry. Yeah, she is very successful, even if her type of humor tends to be too mild for my taste. But her Oscar hosting was really really terrible.
in this make-em-up fight I am team meyers.
can’t stand the other team, so, by default.
at the end of the day they are all a bunch of swollen-headed, suit wearing pip squeaks using too much hair product.
+1000 for pipsqueaks.
Eh. I don’t know. I don’t feel like he was shading them. Primarily because Jimmy and Ellen weren’t “unsuccessful.” I think he’s just making a general comment. I thought Ellen was great at the Oscar’s, and her selfie skit was entertaining and creative.
How can he be shading Ellen when her stunt was wildly successful? It would be shade if her stunt failed but it didn’t.
I don’t know but he’s F@! __ing adorable!
Seth makes so many gestures with his hands that it is distracting, he’s not funny and his show is boring.