It has been a common retort among critics, especially in the aftermath of Stephen Colbert’s cancellation, that the late night comedy shows are just liberal group therapy sessions, but on Monday, NBC’s Seth Meyers decided to confirm these claims in an appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast. According to Meyers, his goal for Late Night is to make a show that is “both cathartic to do and cathartic to watch.”
Observing the highly political nature of Meyers’s show, Shepard asked, “Have you felt over the years that, like, it's a bit of a dog whistle for people to come commiserate with you in a way that you're like, ‘Ugh,’ I don't, let's put it this way. I have my own political opinions. I find one of the most boring things in the world is to hear someone else's political opinions because there's only two, but everyone's saying it as if they thought of it themselves and it's novel. No. You just declared you're on that side. I get it. So, I would imagine people find you in restaurants and they, like, they want to bond over that with you.”
Meyers briefly answered the question but then moved on to claiming that Late Night’s heavy leftward slant could be a beneficial get-out-the-vote operation, “Yeah, very, I mean, again, like sometimes, I think early on people would say, like, ‘Do you really think you're changing anyone's mind?’ And it was ‘no.’ I would like to think that maybe we could, like, if someone's like, ‘Should I vote or not?’ You would want to maybe if they watch our show they think ‘You know what I am going to get out and cast a ballot.’”
Shepard followed up with more of a statement than a question, “Yeah. Yeah. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in America that doesn't know how they feel about Trump… I don't think there's one left.”
Meyers then highlighted his role as group therapist, “I think that for us, you know, we want to make a show that's both cathartic to do and cathartic to watch.”
Saying a comedian’s job is to be funny is a bit like saying a teacher’s job is to teach. It’s not wrong, but it is more complicated than a simple tautology. However, it is a good place to start. Unfortunately, Meyers continued to promote the idea that Late Night is a liberal show for Blue America to look down on Red America, “Sal Gentile, who writes ‘A Closer Look,’ he had this really good observation. He goes, ‘You know, I think our show used to be like, it's a, you know, a sane show written for sane people, and now it's a show by the formerly sane, written for the formerly sane.’”
Meyers would go on to claim that he has accepted the fact that people view him as a news source who just happens to have “some half-baked impressions and some, like, weird tangents.”
That is a pretty accurate description of Late Night and one good explanation for why viewership for the late night shows has cratered.
Here is a transcript for the July 28 show:
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
7/28/2025
DAX SHEPARD: Have you felt over the years that, like, it's a bit of a dog whistle for people to come commiserate with you in a way that you're like, “Ugh,” I don't, let's put it this way. I have my own political opinions.
MEYERS: Yeah,
SHEPARD: I find one of the most boring things in the world is to hear someone else's political opinions because there's only two, but everyone's saying it as if they thought of it themselves and it's novel.
MEYERS: Right.
SHEPPARD: No. You just declared you're on that side. I get it. So, I would imagine people find you in restaurants and they, like, they want to bond over that with you.
MEYERS: Yeah, very, I mean, again like, sometimes, I think early on people would say, like, “Do you really think you're changing anyone's mind?” And it was “no.”
I would like to think that maybe we could, like, if someone's like, "Should I vote or not?"
SHEPARD: Right.
MEYERS: You would want to maybe if they watch our show they think “You know what I am going to get out and cast a ballot.”
SHEPARD: Yeah. Yeah. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in America that doesn't know how they feel about Trump.
MEYERS: I think that's true.
SHEPARD: Yeah. I don't think there's one left.
MEYERS: I think that for us, you know, we want to make a show that's both cathartic to do and cathartic to watch.
Yeah. Sal Gentile, who writes “A Closer Look,” he had this really good observation. He goes, “You know, I think our show used to be like, it's a, you know, a sane show written for sane people, and now it's a show by the formerly sane, written for the formerly sane.”
Like, it's a place to go like, "Yeah, like,” it's like, “wow, you guys saw that, right?’" a little— and, you know, the other funny thing is, like, I, you know, when we started our show whenever anybody said, “You know, I get my news from you,” I would always say “Oh, you shouldn't get your news from me you should get your news from the news, but you can come to us for a second source" and now I truly believe, I'm like "Yeah, just get your news from us," like, you know, what I mean I'm like it's so gnarly—
MONICA PADMAN: Yeah, it’s a mess,
MEYERS: -- like, you might as well come to a place where, like, there's some half-baked impressions and some, like, weird tangents.
SHEPARD: You'll hear the minimum amount you need to not feel left out of the popular conversation and you don't have to innovate yourself.
