Not only does Seth Meyers have the distinction of being one of Saturday Night Live’s longest running cast members, he’s now potentially the only person at SXSW who still admits to using a Blackberry. (“Sometimes, I can find my contacts with it!”)
Meyers took the stage along with actress Olivia Munn and TV producer Mike Shoemaker for a panel discussion about his new gig as the host of NBC’s Late Night. Meyers revealed some fascinating insights about his time at SNL, his approach to comedy writing and what he thinks a dream tastes like (“Reality, with whipped cream. Or Chipotle.”)
Live from @latenightseth‘s #SethXSW panel with moderator @oliviamunn, @sethmeyers and @shoemakermike! pic.twitter.com/bfQJ79begR
— NBC (@nbc) March 8, 2014
Here’s what he had to say about the stuff that marketers like:
On social media marketing: Meyer’s admitted that while he operated his own Twitter feed, he had no idea who or how the Instagram account for Late Night was running. “I think the people who use social media are very aware when you try to over do it an trick them,” said Meyers. “It only works if you just act like a normal person on it.”
On audience engagement: Both Shoemaker and Meyers said the young team of writers they had recruited were very social media savvy, in fact many of them had been picked on the strength of their comedy on Twitter. Shoemaker said he expects the writer’s comfort with social media would help drive more opportunities for audience engagement and customized content as the show found its footing.
On selfies: “Here’s my problem with selfies,” said Meyers. “If the person who’s taking it has small arms or is shorter than I am, then our heads end up being too close to each other.” For Munn, selfies were just shameless self promotion. Munn said, “Most selfies are of these girls lying on the beach, in a bikini, with a perfect tan, and then the caption will be “Happy Monday!” when in reality, it really means, “Look, I’m so pretty!”
