Photo: Courtesy of NBC.Late-night television's new landscape officially rounded into form Monday with the long-awaited debut of Late Night With Seth Meyers.
As expected, a visibly nervous Meyers didn't stray from the genre's traditional format. His opening monologue was a facsimile of "Weekend Update" except without the desk. His first segment "Venn Diagrams," in which the host took two separate things ("Snow" and "Toilet Paper") and revealed the connection ("Things you won't find in Sochi"), felt a bit like a Fallon throwaway. Like all late-night hosts, it will take Meyers a few months at least to figure out what works and what doesn't. A word of advice, Seth: "Venn Diagrams" doesn't work.
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Meyers' most cunning move of the night was surrounding himself with familiar faces to help take the pressure off. Bandleader and SNL alum Fred Armisen felt grossly underused at times, but we expect that to change. Still, just having his close friend on the same stage had to have provided Meyers with an unimaginable sense of comfort. Speaking of old friends, Meyers' first guest was BFF Amy Poehler, and at times their banter felt like we were sitting in on one of their old SNL writing sessions. To cap it all off, Meyers also welcomed Vice President Joe Biden. In theory, the second most powerful man in the free world might be an intimidating one, but Biden and Poehler have history since the Veep guest starred on Parks and Recreation, so the whole affair felt like a reunion of sorts.
Now, if Meyers can get his close friends as guests every night, he should be just fine. Check out the first episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers below, and let us know how you think he did!