Seth Meyers: New year, new ‘Late Night’

Story highlights

Time magazine asked Seth Meyers to be on its 2014 forecast issue cover

He'll take over "Late Night" in February

His studio is still being built, but the format is not

Amy Poehler is expected to be on his first show

EW.com  — 

The New Year will bring with it a new era of late-night TV.

In preparation for the big change, Time magazine asked Seth Meyers – who will take over “Late Night” in February when Jimmy Fallon moves on to host the “Tonight Show” — to grace the cover of its 2014 forecast issue.

In the cover piece, available now online to subscribers, the “Saturday Night Live” writer opens up about his new show and his feelings about taking over the coveted spot. Here are a few highlights:

* Meyers’ new office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza needs a decorator.

Described as having “bare walls, a few boxes, a fresh legal pad on the otherwise empty desktop,” the home base for his new “Late Night” program leaves something to be desired … for now.

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Meyers apparently has yet to move out of his “SNL” office and currently “commutes” between the two. “It’s like having two families,” he tells Time. “I feel like Ray Liotta at the end of ‘Goodfellas,’ with the helicopter following me.”

* Meyers’ last ‘SNL’ episode … won’t be before the beginning of February, says the mag. So that means he’s in for at least two episodes, including the show’s January 18 return. (His new “Late Night” gig begins February 24.)

* His studio is still being built, but the show’s format is not. Meyers’ new studio, which literally sits “on top of the new ‘Tonight’ digs,” is still getting built. And, describes the mag, “like a groom planning a wedding, he doesn’t yet even know if he’ll have a DJ or a band.”

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But format-wise, don’t look for him to reinvent the wheel — there will be a desk, a monologue, celebrities, and the like. That said …

* The content will have a Meyers spin. Though Meyers and Co. claim there’s still much to be decided, it seems they have a pretty good idea of what they want already. Producer Mike Shoemaker and Meyers, for example, talk of booking “more authors, politicians and explainers” and of having sketches “with staffers playing recurring characters.”

* Amy Poehler will be on his first show. Or at least she plans to be. Meanwhile, she told Time of her former “SNL” colleague: “He enjoys bringing the best out of people. Maybe it’s his improv training, but he really knows how to make other people look good.”

See the original story at EW.com.