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By Jacqueline Cutler © Zap2it Framed by corner windows looking out on the skyscrap- ers of Rockefeller Center, Seth Meyers leans back on his new chair in an empty office, feet on desk, hands clasped behind head. He plans to move into this space but not until he clears out of his job at "Saturday Night Live." "I have to move everything down from (the 17th floor); I never wanted it to seem like I was only half there," he says of "SNL." It's the last Monday in Janu- ary, and Meyers is gearing up for his final show, after 12 1/2 years. "Late Night With Seth Meyers" premieres Monday, Feb. 24. In the past year, Meyers turned 40, married and was se- lected as host of the talk show that technically starts in the morning, at 12:35 a.m. ET. David Letterman, who host- ed it first, suggested Meyers change the title to "The Tomor- row Show." "But that seemed presump- tuous," Meyers says, grinning. And Meyers is not presump- tuous. Is he ready? "As ready as you can be," he says, "leaving a place where you were for 12 1/2 years." Meyers isn't quite certain what other people do on Satur- day nights. "Part of it is, really, I am an adult. It ('SNL') is a very good thing if you don't want to grow up," Meyers says. The "SNL" schedule is gruel- ing, and Meyers says he's been sleeping on his office couch Tuesday nights for years, usu- ally getting a restful three hours between 2 and 5 a.m. "I drink Red Bulls and eat beef jerky and destroy the in- ner lining of my stomach," he says. "And yet I will be so emo- tional tomorrow." Earlier in the month, at a Television Critics Association press conference, Meyers an- nounced that Amy Poehler would be his first guest. "It was immediate," he says on this gloomy Monday. "As soon as I said yes, I knew she was the best person I would want out there with me. I got hired on 'SNL' in the same class as Amy, '01." Meyers, who studied radio, TV and film at Northwestern, recalls watching Tina Fey and Poehler do improv in Chicago. Acknowledging the top-tier school, Meyers says, "I do test COVER STORY "Late Night With Seth Meyers" premieres Monday on NBC. Seth Meyers changes floors, desks and jobs 2 x 4" ad 2 – FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2014 – BRAINERD, MN/DISPATCH says. "On 'Weekend Update,' if the person next to you is kill- ing it, it looks really good. "With all things with the show, it is important to spend the first six months figuring out what the show is, to not overthink it," he says. It's a weird week for Mey- ers, leaving a job that's been his home for much of his adult life to jump into an exclusive club of which he's only the fourth member, after Let- terman, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon. "The things staying the same are really exciting to me," he says. "I'm still in New York. I still have the same friends. I am still at 30 Rock." There's some fear about this change; Meyers is too smart to be without fear. "It is totally different mus- cles; it is a totally different job," he says. "I'm reminding myself that I am going into it to learn how to do it." well. I don't study well. Being a procrastinator is what drove my parents crazy. But it was per- fect training for this." He grew up in New Hamp- shire, adoring "SNL," recording the show and talking about it with his friends. "I would bring dates home half an hour early for curfew to get home to watch 'SNL,' " Meyers says. "It gives you an idea of what kind of ladies man I was." Meyers is a little self-effacing and very polite. When he's an- choring "Weekend Update," he sits back and allows the other players the leeway to shine but doesn't lose control of the seg- ment. After eight years, Meyers has held court behind the "Weekend Update" desk the longest and was head writer for nine years. He'll be mining much of the same material for "Late Night," but one advantage of being on weeknights is that he and his 11 writers will get to use more of the jokes they devise. At "SNL," news that broke early in the week and was ripe for par- ody was usually other late night comics' fodder by Saturday. Now he can use them in the show that will tape around 6 p.m. "Late Night" will begin five nights a week but will switch to four nights a week at an un- specified date. Meyers, who praises Jay Leno's monologues, plans to have a strong one for his show, and he wants people to tune in expecting that. Then, as if worried he had oversold himself, Meyers adds, "It's a weird thing of not want- ing to overpromise and under- deliver." He wants guests beyond ac- tors and reality show stars pro- moting themselves. He wants politicians, writers and athletes "because I have a lot of inter- ests outside of show business," he says. "I plan to have musi- cians as guests." He would love to have Sarah Palin as a guest. Meyers wrote the skits in which Fey did a dead-on Palin impression. He quickly credits Fey for the suc- cess of those skits. Another ideal guest would be Hillary Clinton. "I feel like she has a really bright future," Meyers says, deadpan. Tom Brady and Peyton Man- ning are also high on his guest wish list. One skill Meyers wants to display and has repeat- edly demonstrated on "SNL" "is making people look good," he 1 x 4" ad Money tied up in old furniture? Sell it in the Classifieds!!! 855-5898

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