Seth Meyers makes his extended family work, make fun of each other on Thanksgiving
While most late-night hosts take Thanksgiving off because they love their families or whatever, Late Night’s Seth Meyers has a different tradition for the holiday. In that he invites his family to schlep all the way from New Hampshire to appear on his TV show so they can tell embarrassing Meyers family anecdotes, goof on each other, and generally be the sort of loving and adorable people that seem too good to be true. (Especially for a comedian.) Oh, and Meyers films his kids (Ashe and Axel) in turkey costumes (and dog Frisbee as a pilgrim) and films it, because, again, too cute.
And, just because no Thanksgiving gathering is complete without some good ol’ internecine family bickering, Meyers had his similarly snarky little brother and comic actor Josh (Remember when he took over from Topher Grace in the last season of That ’70s Show? Anyone?) play game show host for an all-Meyers version of The Newlywed Game. With Seth and Josh’s parents Hilary and Larry, Seth and wife Alexi, and Alexi’s mom and dad, Tom and Joanne Ashe trying to guess what their respective spouses said about them, it was an extended Meyers clan comedy free-for-all, with Josh (also a cast member on Mad TV at one point) ably holding court on his big brother’s show, possibly with an eye towards taking over one day, and making all coming Thanksgivings even more awkward. As far as this year’s 30 Rock Meyers family Thanksgiving went, it’s pretty easy to see where the Meyers boys got their comedy chops, as mom and dad both got laughs—especially in a “Back in my day” family roundtable sketch that turned into an agreeably silly, sonorous-voiced brotherly put-down fest. (“Well, back in my day, we had a house full of farts, because Seth wasn’t around to eat ’em all.” “Back in my day, shut up.” “Back in my day, no you shut up.”) Plus, if you’re going to make your family work on Thanksgiving, at least the prospect of yearly residual checks takes some of the sting out of it.