Seth Meyers Tests Positive For COVID-19, Cancels 'Late Night' Shows
By TheBlast Staff on January 4, 2022 at 8:30 PM EST
Seth Meyers announced on Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday after returning to “Late Night” on Monday following the holiday break. The news comes after “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon announced that he tested positive on the first day of the holiday break.
“The bad news is, I tested positive for COVID (thanks 2022!) the good news is, I feel fine (thanks vaccines and booster!),” Meyers wrote. “We are canceling the rest of the shows this week, so tune in next Monday to see what cool location we will try and pass off as a studio.”
Monday’s “Late Night” episode featured members of the “This Is Us” cast including Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley, and David Byrne from Broadway’s “American Utopia.” “American Utopia” percussionist Gustavo Di Dalva was scheduled to sit in with the 8G Band all week.
Seth Meyers News Comes One Day After Jimmy Fallon Reveals Positive COVID Test
It seems like COVID-19 is making the late night talk show rounds. Jimmy Fallon revealed on Monday that he tested positive for COVID-19 over the holidays but recovered in time to host “The Tonight Show” on January 3.
“Hey guys, on the first day of our holiday break I tested positive for Covid. I was vaccinated and boostered which made me lucky enough to only have mild symptoms,” he wrote. “Thank you to the doctors and nurses who work so hard around the clock to get everyone vaxxed.” Fallon also thanked NBC and their testing protocols for keeping everyone safe.
‘The View’ Loses Another Host Following Whoopi Goldberg’s Positive Test
ABC’s daytime talk show “The View” has also been hit hard by COVID-19 in the opening days of 2022. Co-host Joy Behar announced on Monday that Whoopi Goldberg tested positive but that she’s doing well. “Since she's vaxxed and boosted, her symptoms have been very, very mild.”
The show returned to a remote format for the week of January 3 as a precaution, which is good news because co-host Sara Haines was absent from Tuesday’s show after being in “close contact” with someone with COVID.
‘Late Night’ Guests Appeared Remotely On Monday’s Episode
Thankfully, Monday’s “Late Night” guests appeared remotely and weren’t impacted by Meyers’ diagnosis. The entire cast made an appearance on “The Today Show” on Tuesday morning, with the cast appearing on a separate stage from “Today” hosts.
After more than a year of remote interviews and home studio tapings, late night talk shows were slowly starting to look like they did before COVID. Guests returned to in-person appearances and in some cases a limited number of fans filled seats in the audience.
Both “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night” tape in New York, where the recent rise of COVID cases and the pervasiveness of the omicron variant has been a huge issue for Broadway. Several productions have been forced to cancel shows or shut down completely, either as a precaution or as a result of positive tests among cast members.
With so many talk show hosts coming in contact with COVID, how shows will proceed in the coming weeks remains to be seen. It’s possible that more shows could temporarily return to a remote format to prevent shutdowns.
