Seth Meyers Reveals Anna Wintour's Comedic Genius
Posted on May 7, 2015
Anna Wintour was a guest on Late Night With Seth Meyers to talk about the Met Gala. Before her interview, Seth revealed something that the public does not know: Anna is actually the Executive Producer of his show. In fact, she is the most important and influential person in the world of comedy in the past 40 years.
It's true: she directed Animal House. She created Saturday Night Live. She told Jerry Seinfeld his show should be about nothing. Seth says he and Anna have an equal relationship. When interviewed Anna characterized their relationship as teacher-student. And not the kind where the student teaches the teacher. She made that quite clear in this hilarious faux documentary about the power behind the scenes in the comedy world.Her influence is felt by everyone. Every morning Seth meets with Anna to go over the upcoming show and get her approval. Sometimes he gets anxious and bursts into her office where she says, "Not now, please." He quickly backs out the door. The writers all work in tuxedos and ballgowns because they just assumed that is what Anna would want them to do -- although they admit she never told them to wear black tie to work. When the interviewer asked Anna about the writers' attire she responded, "I don't know why they do that. They look ridiculous."
Every decision is run by Anna, just like at Vogue. Anna has her fabulous office that we saw in the documentary The September Issue. She edits Seth's writing -- and even Seth admits her changes are always funnier. She swiftly makes her choices -- chattering teeth over a whoopie cushion and breakaway bottles for a fight sketch need to be bigger. Seth is incredibly eager to please Anna, although once he threw a temper tantrum on set when she didn't laugh at one of his monologue jokes. She is always completely professional, waiting out his tirade, then calmly asking "Are you done?" "Yes," he humbly replies. And when she finally says his jokes are "good" he is on cloud nine. He tears up he's so happy. But Anna snaps at him, "stop crying, you're a grown man." It's just a scream and Anna is very, very funny with great timing.
This sketch is pure genius. Take a look: