Seth Meyers Skewers Peacock, Paramount and Linda Yaccarino During NBCUniversal Upfront Set

Alex Weprin
·3 min read
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After the Writers Guild strike derailed his annual routine last year, Late Night host Seth Meyers returned to the stage of Radio City Music Hall Monday morning during NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation, where he took aim at the entertainment industry, and his own company.

Here are some of Meyers’ top jokes from the event.

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On Fox News: “Hello and welcome to the NBC upfronts, if you’re looking for the Fox News upfront, that’s happening outside a lower Manhattan courthouse.”

On Paramount: “Not to brag, it’s been a very good day for me, I found $20 on the street this morning. Long story short, I’m one of the two finalists for Paramount.”

On advertising: “Good time to be me. Let’s be honest, it’s a great time to be you. It must feel so gratifying that eventually everyone comes back to advertising. Remember when streamers told you we’re gonna do television a new way, so I’m afraid we won’t be needing your little commercials anymore.’ Cut to a few years later, every episode of Shogun is interrupted by ‘Whopper Whopper Double Whopper.'”

“If this is your first time at upfronts, I am so sorry. You’re probably so excited, someone in the office pointing to you and said ‘Sheila’s never been to upfront, Should we send Sheila this year?’ and when she got on a plane to New York and she came to Radio City, I’m guessing like an hour ago you started to think ‘what in God’s name is this.'”

“Allow me to explain, the upfronts are where we sell ads for NBC’s amazing lineup of shows, well, not my show. My show is on at 12:30 in the morning, so instead of the upfronts we sell ours at the outbacks. Looking to get into Late Night? Come see me out back.

“With a name like upfronts, you’d think we’d be honest and upfront about everything but that tends not to be the case. For example, I’m gonna let you guys in on something: Not every branding opportunity is unique. Sometimes it’s just a regular old branding opportunity. When you say unique branding opportunity you sound like the guys in Glengarry Glen Ross.”

On Peacock: “Peacock continues to prove that the easiest way to make a billion dollars, is to spend eight.”

On NBC shows: “You remember Deal or No Deal? It’s on an island now… Deal or No Deal was always a great show. So admit I was surprised that moving it to an island worked so well. I love Jeopardy, but I don’t think I’d watch it more if it was in the woods.

“Law and Order SVU has been renewed for its 25th season and — this is cool — It’s been on so long, the criminals from season one are now eligible for parole.”

“There’s an exciting new show, NBC has announced a new drama called The Hunting Party. It stars South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and the dog from Frasier. I’d say Kristi Noem would make a good Real Housewife, But Andy Cohen told me she’s a lot and if he says it…”

On Bravo: “Bravo announced the Vanderpump Rules spin off The Valley has been renewed for another season. They’ve also picked up something from Tom Sandoval and are waiting to learn if it’s contagious.”

On Linda Yaccarino: “NBC is launching a new adventure competition series called Destination X, or as it was originally titled The Linda Yaccarino Story.”

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