With the 2014 Winter Olympics now over, NBC is launching its new Late Night show hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers.
Meyers was the co-host of Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live beginning in the 2006-2007 season, then anchored solo from 2008 – 2013. He was joined by Cecily Strong during 2013 and then departed in early February for his new talk show gig.
This is the fourth anchor for Late Night. David Letterman was the first to host the show, Conan O’Brien was second, and Jimmy Fallon was third. Each moved to the 11:30 p.m. slot after their Late Night reign.
Late Night will be backed up by an in-house band led by fellow SNL alum Fred Armisen.
UPDATE: Below are several high-res stills from the premiere episode with Meyers, Poehler, Biden, and A Great Big World…
The first week of guests for Late Night with Seth Meyers are as follow:
– Monday, Feb. 24: Guests Amy Poehler, Vice President Joe Biden and musical guest A Great Big World.
– Tuesday, Feb. 25: Guests Kanye West, Russell Wilson and writer Robyn Doolittle.
– Wednesday, Feb. 26: Guests Kelly Ripa, Brad Paisley and musical guest (also) Brad Paisley.
– Thursday, Feb. 27: Guests Lena Dunham, Anthony Mackie and musical guest John Mayer Trio.
– Friday, Feb. 28: Guests Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart, Sophia Bush and comedian Michael Che.
In recent interviews, Meyers says that his version of the talk show will feature more sketches than what viewers are used to. “We are going to have a monologue, guests, music, comedian, but the biggest way we can define ourselves is the two or three acts of comedy before the guests come out,” said Meyers last month. He said that they will create new characters that will make regular appearances – a move that is similar to what Conan did.
The new Late Night premieres at 12:35 a.m. eastern on NBC, preceded by the first episode of Jimmy Fallon’s second week hosting The Tonight Show (see his guests).
Will you watch ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’?
Meanwhile, Strong will be joined by Colin Jost at Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update desk beginning Saturday, March 1. Jost has been a writer at the show since 2005.