Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Seth Meyers

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

It’s the last episode of our New York series 💔and we’re going out with a bang with legendary Late Night host and SNL icon Seth Meyers! Seth popped over to the hotel for breakfast, catered by the fabulous Buba’s Bureka (and some Breads bakery babka too!) We covered everything from SNL, Broadway musicals, his love of Chinese food, pet goats, lockdown meatball obsessions, his mum’s legendary sandwich fillings, and what it’s like hanging out with his 3 year old daughter at restaurants. Seth, you are such a gent and we promise to cook for you when you join us again in London for the full chicken soup and matzo ball experience! A big thank you to The Standard High Line for having us on our New York adventure, and to all our fabulous guests too - think this might need to be a regular trip… Seth’s stand up special ‘Dad Man Walking’ is available to stream on HBO Max in the US and Sky in the UK now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with Mum for our last in our New York series. But it's a goodie. But it's been the most wonderful week. We've had the best time. Thank you to Alice, Luca and Tully for being a brilliant team. And who made it all happen. And thanks to the Standard Highline for having us. Magnificent views. Old Liberty isn't as much of a view today, but we can still see her. Yeah. And we've just had the best week.

And we're going to go out with a bang. Oh, gosh. I've been so looking forward to meeting this man. He is. He's a legend. He's a legend. He's late night New York. Whether you watched SNL back in the early noughties

or you watch his show now, Late Night with Seth Meyers, he's always on your screen smiling with his gorgeous smile and big blue eyes and saying something funny. Award winning. He's also just done an HBO special called Dad Man Walking, which is all about him and family. He's been in movies, he has two podcasts.

He does one with the Lonely Island guys from SNL, where they talk about kind of memories from SNL and they just have a chat. And he also does one with his brother. It's called Family Trips with the Myers Brothers. And he's just, I remember, when I've been on his show a couple of times, he makes a load of time for you.

I was completely terrified. And he's just a very kind, lovely person. And I've always been such a fan of him. And it feels really nice to sign off New York City with Seth Meyers who... It's really New York City. Yeah. So it's the end of the week and we're doing an early, well, we're doing a morning podcast. So I didn't want to knock on poor Jake Cohen's door for the fourth, yeah, like seven o'clock in the morning when he's probably been out clubbing the night before. So we decided to order in, which is quite New York of us.

We went to this amazing pastry shop with Benny Blanco and a big host of other fabulous new friends and it's a new opening called Booba and it's Burekka's and they're delicious and Benjindji whose shop it is is a force of nature and I just wanted to well give Seth Meyers a new taste in town so we've asked Ben to come on and introduce himself we have Benjindji well this is how all your friends call you, but your name is Ben. My name is Ben, Ben Simantov.

Hello, Ben Simantov. But I always want to be a Jinge. I feel that Jinge, like, Jinge is the way in Hebrew we say ginger, redhead. Okay, ginger. Yes, and Jinge is kind of like bring always like association with like big personality, like, you know, like colorful personalities. And I always want people to call me that I'm not ginger no I was

gonna say you're not anything but I am bald so like the moment that I lost my hair and my beard is pretty reddish your beard is a good thing so my dad was like you can call yourself ginger and owns it no one will say anything and what you lack in your head hair you make up for in your absolutely huge beard. It's an amazing beard. Thank you, thank you. My daughter, for the first couple of months of her life, she thought that men are not growing hair on their head,

only on their face. So like everyone she would see, she would be like, is that a woman? And I was like, no, it's actually a man. And he also grows hair on the head. You are, so for people that don't know who Ben Jinge is, you are a baker. I am a baker, yes.

And you have a new pastry shop. Yes, Bubba Bureka. Bubba Bureka is what we had on last Saturday and we've talked about it and it was such a great morning. There were about 20 of us and you call everyone queen and you say hello my Queen and it's like the best energy in your pastry shop. It's also got the biggest line, everyone's queuing for these

Burekkas. Tell us about how Buba came about. Wow where do I start? Buba it's our first shop, our first Burekkas dedicated pastry shop in New York City. You know in my culture Bureurekas is our pizza. It's exactly the association that people are making when they want to, like what we call in Hebrew, close a corner. When you're not fully hungry, you're on the go, you're grabbing something to the office.

Fill the gap. Fill the gap. I just love the ring of closing a corner. Maybe just for me as I'm translating it, it sounds good. Closing the gap. We, I just love the ring of like closing a corner, maybe just for me as I'm translating it, it sounds good. Closing the corner. But anyway, you know, on the way out from a club, late night munchies, like it's always,

there is an occasion for burekha, like there is an occasion for pizza. And yeah, we thought that the street food scene in New York City is a little bit of lacking the grab and go, like the fast, you know, serving. And we are excited to be a part of this scene. And you, and you've collaborated with Gaddy, who is Breads Bakery, which is quite an institution in New York.

Absolutely. One of the only ones. A Breads Bakery. Yes. Gaddy is our, one of the partners and we couldn't be more grateful to have him to support us with everything we do. Where did you learn to bake? Is your dad a baker? I worked in restaurants for years as a chef, not any relation to baking and when I moved to Italy

I just started baking and got addicted and obsessed and since then I'm yeah I'm only baking. How many brekkers do you do a day until you sell out? Because you close at 2.30, I think. Is it 2.30? We are trying to get to 2.30, never, never been able to do it. Because you sell out. Exactly. We are, we are baking as many as we can,

couple of hundreds a day. So you've given us, thank you very much for doing a delivery in person, and you've given us all your flavors, I think. Yes. And take us through the flavors that you've got. You've got four flavors haven't you? Yes. So burekas usually is coming with traditional flavors as cheese like kind of farmer cheese, a potato, and spinach. Those are the classic. So we kept the

cheese as classic as we can. And the potato we are doing with caramelized shallots. The spinach we wanted to do something that will be more unique and more approachable for, as we said, Americans that are not familiar with that flavor. So we did a spinach artichoke dip. Well, which is very popular in New York as well. They love a spinach artichoke dip. And this is indeed the best seller

burekas in our shop. Oh, right, okay. And we thought what will be the fourth flavor and what is like America for us and corn. We figured out. Very clever. So we went with sweet corn, beautiful smooth corn puree. With cheese, it's beautiful.

And yeah, going all together with all the fixings, freshly grated tomatoes. My grandfather's schug, which is our take on salsa verde. It's delicious. And I love the hardball dag that you have too. And the pickles and the olives. It's delicious. And I love the hardball dag that you have too and the pickles and the olives. It's delicious. You know, my vision was that the box would be so small and so tight that you open it like a jewellery box and it will just like all shine to your face with colors and flavors. It's doing that. Exactly.

Thank you so much. Thank you for popping by and thank you for giving us the best delivery. And we can't wait to give them to Seth Meyers who's coming up on the show. Seth Meyers. I'm so happy to be here but I do want to establish something really quick. I dream of having the opportunity to go to England again. It's been a very long time and obviously I have a job and a family. Yeah. But I do, I would like a full version of this for you guys. Okay. Okay, so again I can blow it but I promise to bring more. You're not gonna blow it, because you are fab. Yeah, we will definitely have you over and I'll make

chicken supermats. I've begged, I would love that, I've begged of Graham Norton that I can be a guest on his show and now I am begging of you. So maybe I can try that. Did you get the Graham Norton? Graham has been on my show a couple of times. It's fab. The best.

But again, that is sort of pinnacle talk show, I believe, is being a guest on his show and he has said I can do it. So yeah, it usually goes like Graham Norton, table manners, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like if you're doing the promo run, Sure. You'll come over. Well, there's like top of the, top of TV, do you know what I mean? So if you're doing the promo run, you'll come over.

Well, there's like top of the, top of TV, top of pod. Like you guys are both, I feel like you're one. Well, I mean you know about podcasts, you've got two. I do, and let me just say, anytime you can monetize the family relationship on a podcast. Well yeah, we both do, family, yeah. But it's good, I mean, how, I know my brother. Hang on a minute, Seth, This is my podcast. Carry on.

I have a bad habit of doing this. Go on, go on. But I just think that I talk to my brother so much more often now that we have a podcast together. But you guys maybe were talking all the time anyway. So I feel like I just grunt at my mum when we're, when the mics are not on. I revert to being a teenager. Can you imagine at my stage in life, I get involved in this, and I've met the most amazing people. Like you're here, it's like, wow. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. I mean, I'm so happy to be.

I mean, I don't know how you and I were gonna meet otherwise. I don't know, could I just ask one thing? Yes. Are your eyes, or is George Clooney's eyes as blue as yours? Oh, I did mention that I met George Clooney recently. This is my mum just entering into the flirt.

Yes. No, it's not flirting. But weirdly, yeah, she's flirting with someone else. Yeah. It's called negging, isn't it? Yeah, that's just... It's like a compliment, but also... She definitely was looking at me and I thought she was going to ask about my eyes.

No, your eyes are... But your eyes are astonishing. Thank you. See, open with that and then get to Clooney. Okay. Your eyes are astonishing. Thank you. And you guys with that and then get to Clooney. Your eyes are astonishing. Thank you. You guys have given me a very nice light for my eyes.

Does George Clooney even tiny, tiny bit match up? I mean, it's hard for me because I have an ego, a healthy ego about my eyes. Yeah, you have. Only my eyes. Gorgeous eyes. But look, George Clooney has really good eyes too. He does? Okay.

Good papers. I just need a reassurance on that one. Yeah, that one. I don't want you to think any less of him. And how was his show? It was fantastic. Was it? I wish we'd gone to see that as well. Well, yeah, we went to see Jonathan Groff in Just In Time. So cool. One of those people that if you have the opportunity

to see him live, you have to see him live. Exactly. He is amazing. I would tell you guys, and I'll just be honest, I would have told you a year ago, I am not a fan of a Broadway musical. I like a Broadway play. And that's why we haven't had you on yet.

Yeah, I understand. Do you know what I mean? But, but, but this is why you have me on now. I saw Mary Lee We Roll Along with Jonathan Groff. Yeah, amazing. And I can't stop listening to the soundtrack. And I feel like he, that performance and that, the three of them, opened my eyes

to what musical theater can do. So you're like a Sondheim fan now. I'm fully in on Sondheim. Wow, interesting. I'm kind of like the interesting guy. Yeah, I feel like Lonely Island could do something with like a Sondheim thing. You know, we did a, I have a very small,

a very niche show called Documentary Now, where it's parodies of existing documentaries. And John Mulaney and I wrote an episode that is a parody of Company. Oh really? Yeah, mostly John Mulaney mostly wrote it. So were you on the show, were you doing Late Night last night?

No, I'm on Hiatus. So okay, so when do you go back on? On Monday. How long have you been off? I've been off for two weeks and I don't care for it. You made out like hiatus was like, I mean like, it was a long, yeah, it was short. No, no, no, we just have like a week off here,

a week off there. But I don't like having, I would just like to have a week off. I read that you prefer working to the beach. Oh yeah, the beach. You guys, where are you on the beach? I love the beach. We love the beach, yeah.

Yeah. Come to Greece. Yeah, no, Greece is nice, but I just don't. Yeah, I mean, you chose Amsterdam as somewhere to live, which is not beachy. Not a real beach town. No. I would say Amsterdam chose me.

I was a very, I was a young improviser living in Chicago and there was a American-ran improv comedy theater in Amsterdam and so I moved over there when I was a young person and I loved it. You loved the rain? I did, but I genuinely loved the rain. Really? I loved everything. Biking home in the rain is like my, I feel like the perfect version of me.

Was that when you were stoned or not when you were stoned? I wasn't that stoned. Okay. When I went to Amsterdam, you know what I found? I prefer alcohol to marijuana. Well, cheers to that. Yeah, cheers to that. I mean, look, it's kind of like,

I mean, this is not gonna be like day drinking, sadly. Do you always drink during the day? I don't always drink, but if there's cameras. That is a genius idea. It's a genius idea, save for the fact you can really only do it twice a year. Really? Like a real genius idea is carpool karaoke

because you can do it anytime somebody wants to sing a song. You know what I mean? You can jam them out. Well if you're a functioning alcoholic you could do it every day, that's the thing. You could. Is the hangover bad?

The hangover's bad, but I can handle the hangover. I think we're very aware of the fact that at some point, there's a tipping moment where the audience says, how cool is this? That this 51-year-old man is stage, we know he has a family. Getting a little drunk. And he's just getting blasted. Yeah.

Sometimes with pop stars. It just might not be a good look. Who was the best drunk? I will say that Rihanna, who's the best in a lot of categories but it just kept her composure. What did she drink? Everything and we just give her stupid drinks. What was the... we found Verve in a... Oh yeah we found Verve in a... God yeah it was... Homeless? Not homeless? No, I have a very good memory. There was like, bitch better have my bunny, I feel like, which is we drank something out of a chocolate bunny.

Yeah, I mean, they're all quite disgusting though, but the Verve had a Twinkie in it. Yeah. Oh, that's at a Hostess place. We found Verve at a Hostess. Why the Hostess? Hostess is the brand that makes Twinkies. Okay, right.

That sounds like one of her songs. We found Verve in a hopeless, in a hopeless place. Wait, it's her song, mom. Oh, okay. You think that's a coincidence. Okay, I. That sounds like one of her songs. We found verve in a hopeless place. Wait, it's her song, Mark. Oh, okay. You think that's a coincidence. Okay, I've just... You must have been sitting here being like, guys, I am about to blow your mind. My insight, yeah. Thanks, okay. Oh my God. Fine. So, we are... I do feel bad now now Seth, because we actually haven't cooked today, but we have

cooked all week and that isn't to say that you're not special. But I actually, if it opens the door for me to be a return guest. It really is. Absolutely. So I will, you know. Absolutely. I think let's just look at this as a first date and I think that it's going really, I think it's going swimming.

I think it's going swimming. I think it's going great. But we have like pulled in some favors because I, have you heard about Bubba Burekkers? No. Okay, so they've been, where are they like? East Village. They've been open a month. Oh, they're brand new. Brand new. Oh, that makes a feel, I had a real like,

I was upset that you guys knew more about a culinary place in my home. It's really good. So we went on our first day in town. So Benny is a friend of mine. I used to make music with him and now we just eat. Anyway, so Benny like organized, which is his favorite thing to do, organized a kind of team meeting. And it must have been 30 people. Okay.

And we walk to this place, it's a pastry shop and he's like, they're ready for us. And like they and this lovely guy, Ben Jindji, like queen brings out all these brekkers and we're gonna have them. They're gonna be a bit cold now, but they're still delicious because it's pastry. It's gonna be awkward. We're gonna have to talk about it on our faces

and just look out for each other. But it was so delicious. So we thought that you should try the brekkers because are you, like, do you go out for, do you have time to go out? For dinners when you're we do okay I would say you have three kids we have three kids and I don't say it was funny this Where we're doing this podcast is a hotel that I remember before we had kids one time

We did like a steak. We just came here for like a romantic night. Did you get any sleep? Did you stay well this in one of the rooms? One of the rooms, but this is before we had kids. Did you have the curtains open or closed? No we had a great time, exactly. We just oh like so like you know what New York this is our gift to you. Curtains open but it is so funny to come back to the same hotel and if I said to my wife you know what I think we should go back like she'd be like wait me alone? Because if it's me alone that's a great gift but if you want to come with me to a hotel, get out of town. So we try to go out, we are trying to maintain some of the romance of

going out to a nice dinner. But we do okay. I would say we do it a lot with friends, which is nice. So where's the best meal that you've had recently out? Fort Charles. Have you heard about Fort Charles? No. It's called Four Charles Prime Rib. That is the address and it's exceptionally good. Little restaurant, tough res. I feel like you guys might be able to land it. I feel like you can get any res. With a little bit of warning I can get. There's some places, even today, if it's, I mean it's New York City, if it's day of. I mean I tried to get into Meese in Brooklyn, they didn't bite.

Nothing, huh? And that's okay. Yeah, that's fine. And it was humbling. I've had a good week and it was good to get back down to planet Earth. Cued and got into bar pity and got insulted by the waiters.

Bar pity, I just, bar pity is my, my kids love bar pity and my daughter, because I'm on hiatus, I picked on my daughter at school the other day. We went to bar pitty for lunch Only place in New York doesn't take cards you have to go downstairs downstairs get cash from a real janky ATM like an ATM that looks like it's there to steal your Absolutely, I was worried. It it wasn't gonna eat my card. So what did your daughter order? She wanted a penne with a red sauce.

Okay, classic. Yeah, classic. I was a little disappointed that she wasn't, I want her to have that sort of palette where she'll order off the menu, but I'm in the palm of her hand, so if she wants to be bossy with me. The food is good there.

It's very good. It's very simple and very good. I feel like New York kids know how to dine out so she wants to be bossy with me. The food is good there. It's very good. Yeah, it's delicious. It's very simple and very good. I feel like New York kids know how to dine out better than any other, like, well, like, they're definitely better than my kids. Like, we were at this Burekka's place and two kids that, my friends' kids, they were just, like, not kicking up a fuss, weren't trying to be the centre of attention, weren't demanding...

Jessie! How can you, like, you know... Stop talking about my grandchildren like that. They're fabulous. weren't trying to be the center of attention, weren't demanding. Jesse. How can you, like, you know. Stop talking about my grandchildren like that. They're fabulous. My kids do not wanna go to restaurants. Like, they don't care for it. They don't wanna eat. How old's your daughter, though?

Three and a half. And she wanted to go out for red sauce. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To say, Dad, take me out to bar pity. I said, where do you wanna go to lunch? She said, bar pity. Bar pity, by the way, a really cute restaurant to hear from a three and a half year old girl. We also sat at Bar Pity.

It was pretty empty because we went at noon when it opens. And someone who was sitting one table over works at a Stephen Colbert show and he's a friend. So he introduced himself. And my daughter very much was like, she was very frustrated because it was our daddy daughter date. She was like, only talk to me. She kept saying, only talk to me, Dada.

And so I had, and then this lovely guy tried a few more times. We have friends in common and she just was very, and then he left and another woman sat next to us. And the minute she sat down, she was like, why is she not talking to us? And I was like, oh, so you did love it. So secretly you did love it.

This is really interesting because do you get approached by people in the street quite a lot? Yes, but in the most polite way. I think I have, I would say the great thing about the level of recognition I have is most people don't break stride. I get a lot of like love the show on the way by. Yes, they don't feel the need.

I think there's a certain level of fame where people really need to like have a moment with you Photo or like tell you how important. Yeah I'm not no one needs to tell me how important I am. I'm a real like love your show keep walking and so with the kids It's great. Would you like something to eat? Yeah, let's do it Okay, I love by the way, not only am I not getting a meal, but then you told me you have pastries But they're not gonna be warm. I just feel like across the board I think we've eaten them constantly. I also have a real fear that I need to

you dribble. People hate what my mother and my wife have almost the one thing they most agree on is I should never eat on camera. Okay. We won't show anything. You know what, if it's that bad, we won't put the clip out. Don't worry. And also, Alice is very, very good at taking out, what is it, the sound or the facial? I can't wait to see. You guys, you know what, when it's over, I'm gonna be really in my head.

I think they would say that it's when the cameras aren't rolling that it's a disaster. Okay, so listen, we've got four different types of barackas and they're flaky and they're gonna get in our face. Those are your own to eat. Okay so listen we've got like four different types of barackas and there's those are your own tea you need to eat. Wow this is so exciting. So they've got spinach and artichoke. Are you allergic to anything? No. Spinach and artichoke. You sound like you're in a restaurant. I know. Any dieteries. That's what they say here. There's a corn one and look if we have

pastry, we've basically chosen the worst first date foods, spinach and pastry. Great. Gorgeous, enjoy yourself. And just the perfect table for it. I know. I know. This is just.

I know, look. Eat what you can. And then we've got babka from Breads. Do you know Breads Bakery? Oh yeah, what's over there? What's that one? This, I don't know. You're just gonna have to kind of dig in.

I want the spinach. I like the spinach. What do you feel like? I don't know. You're just going to have to kind of dig in. I like the spinach. What do you feel like? I don't know. I feel like it's going to be a flaky disaster. Yeah, I agree. Hold on, I'm going to do a solid for you. And I think that's potato and shallots.

That's what I want. And you've got to have the zoug and the tahini and the tomato. And do you want a little waffle egg? Oh, by the way, my daughter, thanks to Peppa Pig, is now saying tomato. Oh! Yeah, and- Peppa's a mad as shit. Immediately, by the way, also at her little store

in her bedroom, you know, with like wooden, like now we have to pay in pounds, thanks to Peppa. Oh my god, I love that! By the way, if she ever says shallots, I'm kicking her out of the house. That's the one- Shallots. Shallots?

What about regular? Shallots. Can you find a spinach over there? Sure. Does it say it? Well, I mean it says it on the part of the box that you can't see if you open it. That's a cheese.

Corn. I don't want corn. Spinach. Sorry, spin is in America's short for spinach. Can we talk about your mom's sandwich fillings? Yeah, sure. Because I was listening to your podcast with your brother. And you were talking and celebrating

how your mum was pretty ahead of the game with her sandwich fillings. She would, yeah. She would, the best sandwich was a, she made a great chicken Kiev, and then. That's very ahead of the game. Very ahead of the game, yeah. I think when you get it.

She was doing like sandos before sandos were a thing. Much of sandos. Very much of the game, yeah. I think when you get it. She was doing like sando's before sando's were a thing. Much of sando's. Very much of. Like fried chicken, like. Yes, like a proper, like not just like thin, you know store bought ham, but like she would then like sort of chop up the chicken kiev and yeah, it was a big thick. So you were like having like a garlicky, oozy.

Yeah. On marble rye. Pre-toast, she would toast the marble rye. That's amazing. She took very good care of us. Why did she do that? A mother's love. Okay.

I think she just, yeah. And was this for school? That was school packed lunch for school. And did all the other children want to eat your packed lunch? You know what? I actually think the other kids maybe thought it was a little weird and didn't quite know what they were missing out on. But at least it wasn't like smelly. No, exactly. You know what I actually think the other kids maybe thought it was a little weird and didn't quite know what they were missing out But at least it wasn't like smelly. No exactly. I mean garlic from the key. Yeah, it wasn't that bad

It's not like having a egg sandwich. Yeah, or a tuna sandwich Yeah, as long as you don't have either those you're fine in a lunch cup. So where did you go to school? I went to a Public high school in New Hampshire. So this side of... Yeah, northeast, hour north of Austin. And it was lovely. I went to a great school, got a great education. My mom was a school teacher at the middle school. She was my teacher. Bad news, she was my French teacher.

My French is terrible, so I do reflect poorly on her as an educator. She was your teacher? I've never heard about like someone getting their mom as their teacher. We, the thing, she was the first French teacher and so I had her in sixth grade and then they added a French teacher and once there was another option I didn't, they wouldn't let me have her.

But if it's the only option and you want to take the class. Did you want to take the class? I did, I think. I mean I was pretty, it went pretty well. I'm on my second, I'm doing really well. I want to have another one. I will say, this one is, it went pretty well. I'm on my second. I'm doing really well. I will say. I want to have another one. This one is the safest for. I'm gonna chew the corn.

The corn is delicious. Just because I've never, once at breakfast thought, I hope they have the corn. And so this is, for me, it's a real breakthrough. Can you pass the spinach? Yeah, of course I can. Thank you. Who does the cooking in your house? My wife.

Yeah. Yeah, and my brother-in-law who lives with us, he has done some private chefing and so he is. Oh great. Is that why he got invited to stay with you then? Yeah. An extra set of hands too is a very helpful thing to have. So if we were coming around to yours,

and your wife was cooking, what would you be giving us for our dinner? Okay, that's a good question. What's your favorite thing that your wife does? I mean, my wife makes an exceptional brisket if we were doing, I mean, if we were doing sort of a special occasion, you know, if you guys are coming over for Passover or something.

How long does it cook for? I would say, I would say, I don't know, I'm gonna say eight and she pretends like it's 150. Okay, got it. You know what I mean? Like it's hard to know the exact number because you know, she presents as someone who's been doing a lot of cooking. And when she's doing her cooking.

I understand that one, yeah. And what do you serve with your brisket? I will say my father-in-law makes really good potato pancakes, latkes. Latkes, oh. And with green chiles. So they're from New Mexico, and I don't know if you've ever had any green chiles,

which is very unique to New Mexican cuisine, but it's fantastic in everything. And so I would say green chile latkes would be, that's a big deal for them. So he chops them up and puts them in the latkes? Yes. Are they hot? I would say they're more like bold and flavorful.

You can get a hot one but they're like, they're really smoky. Are they fresh green chilies that you use? Yeah, so they're fresh and you get them when they are harvested and then if you have a connection in New Mexico, they'll like send you a bunch and then you freeze them. Are they big? Are they long? They're like long green chilies. You could like slice them if you like wanted to like fry them they'd be like sort of long thin strips but you sort of chop them up. Do your kids eat them?

They love them. New Mexican cuisine I was not a fan of spicy food before I met my wife and now I love it a great deal. And I'm a huge, I mean, I will say, after like four days of visiting New Mexico, you'd like to move on to something else, but. That's so interesting. I don't really think of Jews having any spice as well. No.

I don't think of Jews in New Mexico either. To be perfectly frank. There's very few. Yeah. My wife's family's a real vanguard of it. Yeah. How was your sleep last night? Did your child knock on the door? Here's the problem. No, it was worse than that. This awful, we've started this awful new routine. So my wife and I went out to an event and we told the babysitter she could let Axel sleep in our bed until we got home. And then on the transfer, Axel just begged to stay.

So Alexi was like, just let him stay. So I made it till about 12.30 and then he was kicking me so much that I went and I slept in the lower bunk of my boy's bunk beds. Oh, that's awful. Yeah. You had Dad Man Walk.

Dad Man Walk, yeah. Dad Man Walk is your HBO special. And it's all about being a parent. And there was this amazing clip that's about Seth having his children wake him up in the night and him wishing it would be an intruder instead of his child. Isn't it always musical bets with young kids?

It is, but we were kind of in a good place and Axel's so charming that Alexi said, oh it's so nice when he's so cuddly and then I think he like cuddles with her and then he gets you. Yeah and then he kind of like moves perpendicular over the course of the year. He's trying to oust you in some way. I think it's a group effort. I think they're working in tandem. I don't think he's working alone. I think it's a two man job. ["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"] As well as the sandwiches, can you paint a picture of your family dinner table?

Who was around it? What were you eating? And your mom wasn't doing great Kiev sandwiches. All right, so we were a core four family. We have the tiniest kitchen table that we ate at the entirety of growing up. And in fact, when my wife first saw how we ate dinner, like, she's all, a lot of people pointed out,

it's very hard to break into our inner sanctum of four people. And she said, the time I knew it was gonna be tough was when I realized you literally couldn't even fit a fifth chair at the table. It was like somebody had to sit at the kitchen counter. But we sat around that table. We had the same four seats every single night,

like even today, like when I go back, I know exactly where to sit. And we, my dad commuted about an hour away from home, but we would usually wait to eat until he got home. And in fact, my mom's least favorite thing, which he did every single day, is he would call her before he left the office to ask what was for dinner,

and she would tell him, and then she would hang up the phone, and just basically bitch to us about like, what difference does it make? Like, does he have to prepare on the drive home to know what, how to eat? He wanted to look forward to it. He did, I think that it was anticipation.

You have a much warmer outlook on my father than my mother does. What did he do your dad? He was in finance, he was a banker. It's a funny thing that he ended up with two people in show business, but he was incredibly supportive of that choice as well. But we, you know, I will say like there was a lot, my mom was a school teacher, so she worked every day as well. I feel like one of my favorite things is she would just, it was a lot of like frozen chicken wings. She would like, there was a tray of frozen chicken wings and then a tray of frozen french fries and that would, it was a lot of that.

A lot of burgers, but then, you know, macaroni and cheeses, you know, chickens. We didn't have a lot, growing up by looking back, not a ton of red meat, certainly for dinners or anything. Lots of pastas and stuff. I feel like we didn't. Looking back, it was less healthy than certainly my mom eats now. Typically we're just less aware of that. But ethnically, where were they from, their heritage?

I mean no it's so you know my mom is like British and Swedish but didn't really bring anything from that. No smorgasbord? No smorgasbord. And yeah I mean they didn't that was not we didn't really have that as a thrust. I just think in the States everyone's bringing their own heritage into their country. Yeah we just felt like a suburban family I feel like we ate like people in the suburbs. Okay. Yeah.

The most, I mean, to give it like, my favorite thing my mom made was this Chex Party Mix. Do you know Chex? Yes. Yes, the cereal. And so my mom, and to this day, it's still my favorite thing, but it's basically just like three kinds of Chex, pretzel rods, peanuts, a ton of Worcestershire sauce,

like sticks and sticks of butter. And we would just have this giant tub of that all the time. Do you melt butter or do you put it in the oven? You put it in the oven, yeah. And then it kind of just- It just melts itself, yeah. I don't understand what- It's like a trail mix, but like, you know, like a mix,

like not- You know you can get in a bag, like Chex actually makes it. It's cereal, just think of this. It's three different kinds of cereal, pretzels, peanuts. Like breakfast cereal, no. Yeah, it's breakfast cereal. But it's like wheat. It's cereal, just think of this. It's three different kinds of cereal. Cratzels, peanuts. Like breakfast cereal. Yes, breakfast cereal. But it's like wheat.

It's not sweet. There's nothing sweet about it. It's like wheat Chex or like, I can't remember the other kinds. Would there almost be like a version of it like a Ritz's cracker or something? Yeah, it's a crunchy, delicious. It's yummy, carby, delicious, yum.

And again, it's another thing where if I go home and I eat it for a week, my wife says I smell like it. Oh yeah, it comes through your body. I think it might be the Worcestershire sauce. That's interesting, I've never really thought about that. I would say curry chicken salad, that was a big thing. My mom made a homemade curry chicken salad. Yeah, my mom was a lot of... We call it coronation chicken. Yeah, I mean, you know, bits of celery, you know, bits of, I feel like cashew maybe. My mom was the kind of person who would read a recipe in the New York Times and sort of that would like

enter the rotation for a year or so. Yeah. Can you cook? No. I would say the worst thing that happened was during the pandemic, we had had these chefs from a place, hopefully I'm getting this right,

I think called the Meatball Shop here in New York. And they had gifted me this meatball cookbook. And I thought, well, this is for pandemic cooking. We had a lot of family with us in one roof. And I just felt like such a king because I was making like once a week, I was making these really good meatballs and then there was a point where the entire family

was like, I think we're good. I think we've had our fill on the meatballs. Thanks, Dad. Please step aside. So we ask everyone what their last supper would be. Okay, I put some thought into this because I knew it was coming. But I feel, I don't know if,

I really stress the last part of this. Does that stress you? No because I I don't know if this is the best supper but I feel like if it's your last supper I think you want to eat all the things that you regret like you know a day later you're like oh I wish I hadn't had that yeah but if this is your last supper yes go for it yeah so and this is this is all bad food, but I think that's how I'd want to go out. This says a lot about you. Which part? That it's bad food.

Yeah. That's in your heart where you want to be. It is. The nice guy wants to be bad. One of my favorite things about living in New York City, and cities in general, just delivery food, ethnic delivered, Chinese food especially. And I remember once, you know, after SNL,

because we'd be up so late on Saturdays, and then it would be Sunday, and you'd sleep in, and then I would just love ordering Chinese food. And also, it was the first time I even had a little bit of money when I started at SNL, and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna over order Chinese food. And I remember once I had ordered a bunch of Chinese food.

I lived alone and I was on the phone with one of my closest college friends and this is before food apps, so you actually had to interact with the delivery person when they showed up. And I remember he showed up and he was, I forget, he was like, that'll be like $72 or something. And I was like, okay.

And my friend heard it on the phone and he said, did you just order $72 of Chinese food for yourself? And I was like, oh yeah, is that bad? He goes, yeah, that's really, that's too much food. You know Jade Thirlwall does this thing, from Little Mix, Jade Thirlwall, she does the thing when she's ordering. She goes, is that for everybody?

Yeah, yeah, we all good when it's an order for herself that is that for everybody yeah yeah we're good when it's an order for herself yeah so to like oh that's really good anybody want anything else yeah actually just to do that so what's your best thing of not sweet and sour chicken it would be something it would be like general south chicken or something like that. Like the one of the kind that like is not, you know, it's mostly batter, it's barely chicken. Florescent. And I will say, I, my heart races with excitement when there's a ton of white rice.

Like I know that, I mean white rice would also be, I mean like fluffy, well prepared white rice. I get a lot of heat in my family for how much like when there's rice somewhere They're all like, oh, so that's your carb. That's my car. Yeah, just the emptiest of carbs. I Love it. I love it bouncy fluffy versatile. I'm into it. It's like what flavor do you want me to catch for you? That's what I feel like white rice is Noodles. Yeah I well one I think I'm a little bit of a disaster when I eat a noodle, but I yeah That's what I feel like white rice is saying. No, I want noodles. Nah. Why?

Well, one, I think I'm a little bit of a disaster when I eat a noodle. But I, yeah. Okay. I like strength in numbers. I like when you have white rice, you're like, I'm feeling I'm gonna eat like 300 of you dudes. Yeah.

But it doesn't go as far for me to order risotto. I order pasta. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I think that's too heavy. I think I like the lightness of white rice as opposed to... yeah I agree risotto, yeah too thick, too heavy. So what's the starter in this Chinese meal? I was so I went outside of Chinese for my starter so that's my main is Chinese. I remember once there was... we went to a place in Nashville,

like a barbecue place that had fried pickles as the starter. Like deep fried, like sliced pickles, little pickle disc, deep fried. Oh, that's making me, we had Jonathan on and we acknowledged that he was a wet performer. Yeah.

Because he's a big fan. The wettest. All he talked about was salivating the whole time and I just thought, oh my God, here it comes, here it comes. Here it comes. That just made me salivate. You got him a giant, like the screen guard on his microphone was, he told me he was insulting.

The splash guard. So where's the place that you got the fire pickles? This is, again, I feel like I did a good job of planning ahead and a bad job of not looking it up. But maybe I'll try to get it for your show notes. But I will say, I said on the day we ate them them I said to my wife these they should call these deathbed pickles because I'm gonna I think I'm gonna think about them on my deathbed. Did you have a dip with it? Yeah it was like a white creamy not quite aioli but ranchy. Yeah but a little bit more interesting

than ranch. So you've got that as a starter? Yep. We've got the Chinese. Yep. Is that your go-to place in New York? Are you allowed to share it? I have a lot of places I like in New York, but I would say I would not be picky about it. I kind of don't want to get too fancy with it.

Where do you stand on duck with pancakes and plum sauce? I like it. Me too. Yeah, I like it. I would say that's, in fact, that's my favorite delivery system of duck in the world, would be pancakes, hoisin sauce. Do your kids like it? I don't know if they've had a lot of duck, my kids.

I feel like my kids are the age where they still don't wanna eat anything that looks cute in a book. Right. Yeah, although we had a pet goat, or we didn't have a pet goat. My wife had a pet goat. And I remember, we went had a pet goat, or we didn't have a pet goat. My wife had a pet goat. Oh. And I remember, we went to a restaurant once

and they were like, is there anything you won't eat? Because it was like one of those fancy restaurants. We were like, no. And then they brought out a course that was goat and we were laughing because my wife was like, I don't think I can eat goat. Really? And I was also, we also agreed

that it would have been fucking crazy if a waiter was like, is there anything, is there any allergies? If you were like, we don't eat goat. Like you would be like, that it would have been fucking crazy if a waiter was like is there anything is there any allergies if you don't eat goat like you would be like yeah what was the name what's the name of raisin rest in peace yeah oh yeah did you meet raisin I did I didn't care for raisin I think ghosts are bad pets but they were my father-in-law was very awful yeah awful animals there's a reason people don't have them. Why did they have it as a pet? Great story.

My brother-in-law was gonna cook it. Like bought it to, it was gonna do like a goat, whatever roast. And slaughter it? Yeah, slaughter it and it was gonna be for a big dinner party he was doing. Like an outside. Because he's a private chef, okay.

And then my father-in-law laid eyes. By the way, when you make eye contact with a goat, like they're the Satan's eyes. Just devilish sideways eyes, and he was just like loving for a second. And then Raisin lived with him for years. Did they get milk out of Raisin? No, Raisin was a boy and a pain

and like head-butted. How long did he live for? He did alright. I want to say I don't know what is good for a goat but it was around for like eight or nine years. Wow. Yeah. So after you've eaten all this fried stuff, which definitely is going to be your last supper, you're going to have a heart attack straight after. Yeah, it might be because of it. It's both the last meal and the cause of death. And what is your, do you gonna have dessert? Alright guys, I don't have a sweet tooth. At all? Not really. I mean if there's a dessert at the table I'm gonna try it all but I have no, like I never, I'm the reverse gruff when I think about dessert. Okay. Just my mouth dries out. Okay. So if we were to offer you a slice of

babka now? I would have babka. Babka is great but I went for my last meal though I do have an answer. Fine. But it's not because I like it but I you know like Baked Alaska? Yeah. I just feel like the I just that excitement I feel like if I'm going out there's something like a Viking funeral about somebody lighting my dessert on fire. That's Alice's favorite. But like genuinely? It's fun. Fun, right, that's what I wanted for fun. It's a feat of science.

Yeah. Yeah, we had a good baked Alaska Sunday the other day. I mean, it was a deconstructed Alaska, but like, so it just had basically torched meringue on the top. Yeah. But it was a pistachio-baked Alaska, and I don't know why I'm telling you this

because you don't have a sweet tooth, so you're like literally drying up. You're drying up. No, it's fine. I mean, it's just, I kind of think it's a gift. Oh, not a gift, but a blessing not to have a sweet tooth. Yeah. Yeah.

So would you like, do you like cheese? I love, I will say, I love cheese so much that it's a problem. And when I go to a dinner party where there's a cheese course first, it's a disaster for me because I can't stop eating the cheese and it ruins everything.

I can't even buy cheese because I would eat it. I love it so much. I love it so much. What's your best one? I love Gouda. Gouda. Yeah, I do.

Do you know how they say it in Amsterdam? No. That way. This would be if I was one of those awful people who went abroad and then used the word for, you know my favorite, howder. Howder. Oh, I love a good howder.

Howder. Is your daughter gonna start saying howder? I hope, I hope not. I've got to ask a serious question, well not very serious. Do all the chat show hosts feel they have a responsibility in this political climate to challenge what's going on? I'll speak for myself, I know a lot of us certainly.

I don't know if it's a responsibility as much as it is very clear to me it's how I wanna use my time. So it's, I don't feel like, and I almost feel like it's a better show because it's what I deeply want to be talking about as opposed to something where I feel like, and no one is asking it of me, I'm choosing to do it.

Do you have any regret for basically encouraging Donald Trump to go for presidency? I have, my answer was always like, no, nobody, I mean, I would have regret, here's how I have regret. Explain to mom what happened. So in 2011, I hosted this dinner where you make fun of... At the White House? It's in DC, it's not at the proper White House,

but I was on a dais with President Obama and Michelle Obama. A night, by the way, that both my wife and mom said, don't, because you have dinner on a dais, and they were so worried that I was gonna have to eat food next to Michelle Obama. They just said, just don't eat. So then you make fun of the president, you make fun of both parties,

but Donald Trump in 2011 was just this blowhard businessman. And at the time, he was really sort of ringing the bell for the fact that Barack Obama was not a real American, was not born in the country. And so we both myself and President Obama made a great deal of fun of him that night, deservedly so, and he a lot of people say that's the night he decided to run for president. Now I would regret it if I would regret it if even one person in the run-up to it when I was rehearsing said I think these are great jokes.

Just FYI, he might run for a win president. You know what I mean? Like it was so far afield of what anybody could have thought. Have you met him? I have. Have you interviewed him? Lovely. You know what?

My God, lovely. He makes a great baked Alaska. No, I met him a couple of days. He hosted Saturday Night Live back in like, I think 2004 when he hosted that show, The Apprentice. I didn't realize. How was that? Were you on the show at that point?

I was on the show. And what was the feeling then? Was it like? It was just sort of. It was a bit of a joke? Yeah, just sort of a buffoon. And weirdly, because I. We're never getting back in the country, by the way.

Yeah, well. Okay, cool. I mean, I probably won't after my trip to Amsterdam. Yeah. But you know, he didn't have a sense of humor, save for the fact that when people, I remember when he was in front of the audience, when the audience started laughing, he liked that it was working.

So he's just sort of drawn to the light of what people like as opposed to I think having any internal compass for what is good. So. Who, you've interviewed everybody, basically everybody. Fair amount of people. Yeah, and have you ever really regretted how an interview's gone?

Not necessarily in the sense that like, just that you wished, you kind of stayed up being like, damn, I wish I'd done it differently. Yeah, there's a couple. I mean, for certainly, and in a way, it has taught me a valuable lesson, which is there's probably more strength in the show when you just have guests on that you think will be

a good conversation, as opposed to having guests on that you think will be a good conversation, as opposed to having guests on that you think will be an important conversation. Like, I like kinda, it's a very nice structure of the show, which is we use the first chunk of it to talk about what's going on in the news, and then I think transitioning to having guests who are good talkers and making work that you respect and love, like that's more fun than trying to be contentious.

This is a bipartisan criticism. Every politician is a pretty bad talk show guest. They just wanna say, you know, the stuff they have tested and they'll come with three canned jokes that they're gonna tell no matter what. There's no way to get them away from it. And so it's also funny, I think it must've been, I guess 2020, there was a really big Democratic

primary field before it sort of solidified around Joe Biden. And we had almost all of them on. And it was so funny because you'd say, our next guest is running to be the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States. And the audience was so excited because you could feel they were like,

oh my God, we might be seeing the next president. And then a minute or two into the interview, you just felt them sit back being like, they're not gonna be the next, this isn't gonna be the next president. And then a minute or two into the interview, you just felt them sit back being like, they're not gonna be the next president. That's just gonna be the next president. And so we just are like, let's talk about the news, but then when we actually have conversations,

because again, I have no regrets when I'm talking to a person that I wanna be talking to because I know how to have those conversations. It's when you're trying to, I don't know, in the body of an interview, when you're trying to prove a point, those are the ones where I think you regret afterwards because you sometimes come a little bit out of yourself. Can I help you? One is the date. Okay, so one's a date and it looks like it's got like some...

Date and chocolate. Date and chocolate and one's just chocolate. Yeah, I'll try them. But I don't know which one's which. And do you want some more coffee? That's date and chocolate. That one. How many coffees do you want a day? Oh, it's bad. Is it? But I feel like you're being quite reserved. Well, I'm on, I guess you guys gave me my second.

Okay. But I will say that when I'm at work on a show day, I just sort of, and not even, cause I'm falling asleep, but just the anxiety, it's like a tick to just keep getting more comfortable. Before we let you go, can you give us a nostalgic taste or scent that can transport you back somewhere? Well, I mean, I sort of, I guess I sort of blew this one,

but I will only say that I went and visited my brother who lives in LA. And I went to his house in LA and we were talking and there was something, this familiarity was like tickling like sort of the back of whatever cortex it is that holds the memories. And I was like, what's going on? Like I couldn't place it.

And then it turned out because it was right around my birthday, he had called my mom to get the old Chex Mix recipe. And he was made, and so when he opened it was that real like, like in a cartoon where the scent like actually like grabs Bugs Bunny by the nose. And so that, but that is very much my, I would say my favorite smell. I love that. I'm going to try and make that. Do you think it's the buttery scent? I think the butter. I think none of the parts that make it good are good for you. But I gotta get you my mom's recipe. Cause there's some knockoff recipes out there

that try to make it too fancy. And you call it Chex Mix? We do, yeah. Okay. Are you okay with that title? Do you think? Kind of, but I don't know if we can get all the ingredients at home.

We can improvise with like a shrimp. We're gonna send you. Okay. Yeah, I'm already worried that you're improvising. Yeah, yeah. Ha ha! Seth Meyers, thank you so much for coming on. Did I do okay?

Did I make the cut for another visit? Are you kidding me? Absolutely. This was the best. Are you? I feel bad that we didn't cook. I'm just finding a abalone, I had a mimosa. Well, it's been a pleasure to have you on.

And actually, can I just say, I know, and everyone probably says this, you always make time for the guests when you come on. Like when I've sung on your show, we always get a really nice photo. I love your photographer for that. He's very good, Lloyd, he's from Scotland. Love that, Lloyd.

Lloyd. Lloyd, love Lloyd. Like, I also realize that I look really young in it, so that's really nice, and that's nice, and it's like, I feel like. Yes, of the pictures of us together, I like the first one the most. And it's just really, you make everyone feel so special, and you're brilliant at what you do,

and you're very funny. And let me just say, I mean, obviously, we've met a couple times on the show, but we've never properly chatted. I know, I know, and I've been a terrified pop star in that situation, so now. So this has been an exponential improvement in our friendship, and what a delight.

I mean, truth be told, I came in with very high expectations about this was gonna go. No, I know, yeah, no. I mean, again, you listen, and this sounds like it's gonna be a blast, and it even was more fun than I thought it would be. Thank you. Did we argue anymore?

I would have liked a little more. This was a little more arguing. The mother-daughter tension. A bit more of a bicker. That's kind of my kink. It's kind of mine now. Thanks. Seth Meyers, what a guy. I knew it, I just knew. I loved having an hour and a half with him to just chat. Those eyes.

Yeah, well you pointed that out very quickly. Sorry, I couldn't help it. They're kind of shine at you. They're kind of bright sapphire blue. Yeah, he was lovely and so warm. He's so nice. And so nice and I loved hearing stories about his family. He's a family man. Absolutely. Yeah.

You can watch his HBO special, Dad Man Walking. On HBO, if you've got HBO, can we get it in the UK? We're going to find where you can watch Dad Man Walking and put it in the show notes. Mum, that's it. I know. I'm quite sad. Me too. Thank you The High Line Standard because they've been so helpful and kind. Yeah, shout out to Kristian and Emily. Kristian, Emily and Elijah and Nadine who looked after me. Who gave you lots of wine. Lots of wine. It's been such good fun that we've got to do it again. I think we do.

It's been such good fun that we've got to do it again. I think we do. It's been such a hoot. We've had so much fun. Also thank you to Jake Cohen for lending us his kitchen. Being a food facilitator. And also giving us some gorgeous dishes to serve. His cookbook is out in September, Dinner Party Animal. We're just off to the airport now.

I don't want to go home. Neither do I. I want to see my children, I can't wait. I hope so. I absolutely do, but I do love New York and it's given us everything. And thank you so much to all our guests that have come on this series. Let us know if you'd like us to do another one. And hey, maybe you can even decide another destination that you think we should go to.

We're quite up for this. Thailand. Oh. After White Lotus. that you think we should go to. We're quite up for this. Thailand. Oh. After white lotus. OK. OK. Yeah, I'm up for it. Australia.

Australia, sure. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week. Thanks for watching!