Seth Meyers of ‘SNL’ stands up for comedy gig at Mirage

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Seth Meyers is on the phone because of what he is doing this summer, but the talk drifts to what he’s not.

Specifically, Meyers isn’t at his "Weekend Update" desk on "Saturday Night Live." Was it frustrating to not make jokes about the summer’s hot topics?

■ Michele Bachmann confusing John Wayne with John Wayne Gacy. "That, in the end, I feel was a pretty small mistake," he says. "The bigger question to me is why people keep talking about John Wayne in the first place?"

■ The Anthony Weiner scandal. "That was probably the more fun story we missed," he says, "both for the story and the way it was covered."

■ The Casey Anthony trial. "I think that’s a pretty safe one for comedians to stay away from. I guess the coverage of it would be the only thing you can poke fun at, not the actual story."

On Saturday at The Mirage, however, Meyers adds a new topic to the mix: himself. Stand-up dates this summer allow him to go beyond the headlines.

"Obviously, it would be indulgent to talk about myself during ‘Weekend Update,’ so it’s nice to do that where it’s above board," he says. He actually does have to stand up though. "That’s a big shift for me."

But Meyers, 37, is no longer much of a team player in the "SNL" sketches. He recently furthered his credentials as a topical go-to guy with his second turn hosting cable’s ESPY Awards. And last spring, Donald Trump provided some free publicity and a roundabout endorsement, appearing visibly rankled by a barrage of Meyers’ jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

But this summer is the comedian’s first as a ticketed stand-up. He is a product of Chicago’s sketch comedy scene, good enough friends with Jason Sudeikis and less-famous alumni of The Second City comedy troupe that he came to Las Vegas to see them at the Flamingo.

Meyers was hired for "SNL" in 2001 after getting noticed in "Pickups and Hiccups," a revue about the singles scene he did with Jill Benjamin. "Getting a two-person sketch show booked is almost impossible. It’s just a hard thing to explain to people," he says.

So when colleges began to offer him stand-up dates, Meyers easily adapted. "I’ve always been a writer, and I wasn’t opposed to the idea of stand-up. The more I did it, the more I liked it."

"It’s fun to work out a different muscle," he adds. "It’s funny, when you generate as much material as you do on ‘SNL,’ I think all of us sometimes come up with ideas (and say), ‘That is not enough for a sketch, but it would be a pretty good stand-up bit.’

"It’s kind of nice to have outlets for all your ideas. The sketch-writing world can be kind of a grind if you don’t have other releases."

Meyers became head writer at "SNL" after Tina Fey’s departure in the 2006-07 season. He steered the show back to the front of the pop-culture zeitgeist with Fey’s Sarah Palin sketches, which — like his recent jousting with Trump — he describes as a matter of how well one can "execute on an opportunity."

By contrast, the 2004 race between George W. Bush and John Kerry was "a lot harder an opportunity. They were a lot more boring," he explains. "This time we already have Obama. It’s hard to make fun of a guy with as good of a sense of humor as him. So we’re really counting on the Republicans to give us a comedy gold mine."

Could Bachmann be that next pot of comedy gold?

"Bachmann is new business, which is always exciting," he says. "I feel like the more people learn about her, the more fun she could be."

But Republicans shouldn’t pin their hopes on Meyers bolting his Saturday night forum for, say, a sitcom or shot at the movies. "I love it," he says. "My biggest fear is whatever I do next is going to be more boring."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.