Seth Meyers Denies ‘False Narrative’ About Taking Over ‘SNL’ — or That Lorne Michaels Is Even Leaving
Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers is setting the record straight about rumors speculating who creator Lorne Michaels will pass the torch to as the show approaches its 50th anniversary. During a recent appearance on Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast, the Late Night With Seth Meyers host pushed back on the suggestion that he might take up the helm — or that Michaels even has any true intention of giving it up.
“I really don’t—I think this is a false narrative that Lorne is going anywhere,” Meyers told Birbiglia, who wondered if he or Tina Fey would be first in line to take over. “I think it made sense for Lorne who’s, yeah, got a flare for the dramatic to say, I think I’ll be done at 50. Yeah. But now, it’s not like Lorne’s got something else he wants to do more than this.”
Michaels created SNL in 1975 and has served as producer and later executive producer across more than 800 episodes in the time since. Currently in its 49th season, the series only saw an absence of Michaels during a brief hiatus spanning seasons six through 10. The 79-year-old recently told Entertainment Tonight that he has been thinking about the future of the show, but doesn’t have anything set in stone as of yet.
“Of course I’ve thought about it,” the producer shared about choosing his successor. “We’re doing the 50th anniversary show in February of ’25, so I will definitely be there for that and definitely be there until that. And sometime before that we’ll figure out what we’re going to do.”
He added: “Yeah, it could easily be Tina Fey. But there are a lot of people who are there now who are also, you know.” On the Working It Out podcast, Birbiglia and Meyers joked that it might actually end up in the hands of Kenan Thompson.
Meyers’ tenure at Saturday Night Live spanned 13 years, from 2001 through 2014. The late-night host worked on more than 200 episodes as head writer, cast member, and Weekend Update anchor in varying intervals. Late Night with Seth Meyers premiered in 2014, with Meyers taking over for Jimmy Fallon, who made the move to The Tonight Show. He joins previous Late Night hosts Conan O’Brien and David Letterman.