Seth Meyers takes Trump’s mockery of his talent as compliment

US late night TV host Seth Meyers said it’s “kind of nice” being mocked by Donald Trump amid the president’s ongoing attacks on TV personalities.

The president has taken aim at several late night hosts in recent months, including Meyers whom he recently branded the “least talented” host on TV.

The 51-year-old, who has presented Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014, returned to the show this week after a brief hiatus.

During the episode, guest Kumail Nanjiani congratulated Meyers for “finally getting on Trump’s radar”.

“For weeks, he was picking on Fallon and Kimmel and Colbert and I was like, ‘What’s a girl gotta do?’ Because you talk about him, too,” noted the Big Sick actor.

Nanjiani then read out Trump’s Truth Social post about Meyers receiving a contract extension, where he claimed the host had “no ratings, talent, or intelligence, and the personality of an insecure child”.

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The actor noted Trump had already called Stephen Colbert "untalented," Jimmy Kimmel "even less talented," and Jimmy Fallon "insecure” so therefore found it hilarious that he managed to aim all three insults at Meyers.

In response, Meyers said “it’s kind of nice” joking: “In a way, it’s almost like he’s saying, ‘You know, he’s got something for everybody.’”

Trump’s rant about Meyers contract extension was somewhat outdated, as it was announced in 2024 that the NBC star had signed a four-year extension to remain the host of his show.

“As part of the agreement, Meyers’ production company Sethmaker Shoemeyers, which he runs with Late Night showrunner Mike Shoemaker, will produce content across NBCUniversal platforms after extending its deal with the studio,” Deadline reported at the time.

Meyers also told Deadline that he was “not in any way, shape, or form bored with doing this”, adding that “thanks to the luxury of hours you can fill in a week”, there was “always room for reinvention”.

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The president’s tirade against Meyers comes weeks after he gloated about longtime critic Stephen Colbert’s cancellation, which occurred just days before the Trump administration approved the $8.4bn merger between CBS’s parent company Paramount and Skydance Media.

CBS announced in July that it would part ways with Colbert next year and wrap up the decades-old Late Show, despite the program being the top-rated late-night show on broadcast television, immediately raised concerns that Paramount was currying favor with the president to push through the merger.

While Paramount has insisted that the cancellation was a “purely financial” decision due to the show reportedly losing $40 million annually, critics – including CBS staffers, Colbert and his late-show cohorts – have pushed back on those claims.