After Donald Trump’s election win, Seth Meyers embraced the challenge of finding laughter when things are bleak, saying: “Let’s f---ing go.”
The Late Night host, who opened his Wednesday monologue with an understandable grimace, described watching the election returns the night before.
“I knew I would be here a few hours later to talk about it, and I couldn’t help but think—and this is genuine—what a privilege to be here with you, to be with my colleagues, to not feel alone," he said.
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“This is a joyful place to work, and we hope you can see the joy when you’re watching at home,” continued Meyers, who has helmed the show for just over a decade.
“I do know,” he added later, “that everyone who works on this show agrees on our mission, which is to find laughter, to find connection, and to find joy, even when things are bleak, and to tell you how we feel. And it might be challenging, but to that challenge, I say, ‘Let’s f---ing go.‘”
Meyers then described his voting experience alongside his six-year-old son, Axel.
“There was this older gentleman standing right behind us, a very nattily dressed New Yorker [with a] tie and sportscoat,” Meyers recalled. “He looked at my son and very sweetly said, ‘Hello, young man! Are you here to see the wheels of democracy turn up close?’”
“And my son looked me and...waved me down [to his level], and he whispered in my ear, ‘Is that Donald Trump?’”