On Thursday, I finally got to do something I've wanted to do for 12 years: seeing Late Night With Seth Meyers in person! I've been a fan of Seth since I was 14 when I first watched him as the host of Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. It was always my favorite part of every episode, and while I was sad when he left SNL (and honestly lost interest in the show after he left because every other cast member I liked had already left too), I was obviously very excited that he would be hosting his own show. I always hoped that one day I'd be able to go to a taping of Late Night. It took me a very long time, but last month I requested a ticket, and I got in!
This wasn't my first time going to a taping of a late night show. A few years ago I got to see The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and it was such an amazing time, but I think the whole experience of going to 30 Rockefeller Plaza made Seth Meyers an even cooler event. In addition to the ones I've already mentioned, I've watched lots of NBC shows like Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and Law & Order SVU, so it was awesome to be at the headquarters of NBC.
When my ticket for April 30th was confirmed, I was very eager for a couple weeks to find out who the guests would be that day. I was so excited when I found out the first guest would be Adam Scott! Like I said, I was a big Parks and Rec fan, and Ben Wyatt was my favorite character. I had never watched Severence before, so I spent the next few days watching both seasons, kind of like how someone might listen to a band's whole discography before seeing them live to get extra excited for the show.
Check in time for Late Night started at 2pm, so I made my way inside 30 Rock around 1:30 and got in line. At 2, we were all led up the stairs to check in, get our tickets and wristbands, go through security, and then waited inside the Peacock Lounge until it was time to go into the studio.
We unfortunately would have to give back the cool tickets when entering the studio, but at least we still had our wristbands as souvenirs.
While waiting in the Peacock Lounge, there were a couple of people there to get us hyped up and energetic to be in the audience. There was a quick Seth Meyers trivia portion where they asked us "Which character did Seth famously get married to on SNL?". I was the only one who yelled out "STEFON!" Did no one else in the room watch their wedding live back in 2013??
It was time to turn our phones off, and we were all asked to line up depending on the number or letter on the back of our ticket. I had a "1" on the back of mine, which I hoped would get me in first like if I were group 1 boarding an airplane, but they actually called all of the people with letters and double letters on their tickets first. But at least I was first in line for the numbered tickets.
We were all packed into elevators, and I wish I could've taken my phone back out to take a picture of the cute peacock logo carpet they had in there. After exiting the elevator, we were lined up in a hallway decorated with lots of framed photos spanning all decades of SNL. It was at the end of that hallway where Studio 8H was, literally right next to Studio 8G, where we all went in for Late Night.
I believe I was seated in the 5th row, all the way to the left. Luckily my view was not obstructed my cameras at all, because it was for some of my taping of Colbert. After waiting for everyone to be seated while music blasted on the speakers (Addison Rae and Party Rock Anthem included), the warm-up guy walked out to get us to practice our clapping and cheering. He asked some audience members where they were from, and handed out a few t-shirts. He promised us there would be "a lot more t-shirts". There were not any more t-shirts.
Seth came out to say hello before the show started and told some funny bits about his kids and when he did the show from his attic during covid. Later on between segments, he came into the audience for the Q&A. I tried so hard to prepare a question before the Q&A started, but out of fear of asking something annoying and having it haunt me forever, I unfortunately didn't ask him anything. Another audience member told him "that guy promised us more shirts but we never got any".
After the taping was over, we were all led out of the studio and straight into the NBC store, so I finally bought the mug I had always wanted.
That night after getting home, I of course put Late Night on so I could rewatch the episode, this time from a home-viewer's perspective. I did spot myself in the audience.
It was a really cool day! I would definitely love to go to another taping sometime in the future.
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