There’s no question the late night sphere has gotten more political in recent years. Some of this is due to tension that’s arisen between the current administration and the hosts and writers on late night. Some of this is doubtless due to the economic landscape and what people are wanting to ingest. So, it was no surprise when Seth Meyers did a Late Night but involving politics. It was a surprise when Sydney Sweeney randomly took some shrapnel.
Here’s what happened. Seth Meyers did a bit on NBC where he mashed up ridiculous questions his writing staff came up with with real-life White House press conference clips. For example, Seth asked, “How is Sydney Sweeney’s nude ad campaign helping blue-collar American workers?” The camera then cut to a press conference with Karoline Leavitt talking about Jergens’ success. This was amusing for anyone not named Sweeney or Leavitt.
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I thought this was a pretty funny setup overall, but when it happened on air, people were actually a little uncomfortable with the Sweeney joke on Late Night with Seth Meyers. This led the host to joke the bit “got a bigger laugh in the writer’s room.” Still, the segment continued, and a subsequent joke about Vice President J.D. Vance got a bigger reaction from the room.
The political bent comes as the administration has had tension with Stephen Colbert (when he was still on air) and also hosts like the "not funny" Jimmy Kimmel over the last couple of years. Even Meyers has not been immune, as President Trump called for him to be canceled last year.
What Meyers was mentioning this week was Sydney Sweeney’s latest viral ad, which caught backlash similar (but different) to her AE Jeans situation. She’d partnered with an online betting company called Novig for a “Just Sports” ad which saw her wearing nothing but sports equipment. When some female athletes complained about the context, she doubled down in her response.
It’s Sweeney who’s really been laughing all the way to the bank. She actually brought the partnership idea to Novig when it came to the sports ad Seth Meyers was poking fun at. She partnered with the brand and now has an ownership stake, and she said she chose Novig because she liked that people weren’t able to bet on things like what color underwear she was wearing. The ads subsequently went viral, and helped Novig build a household name. Now, if she’s getting poked fun at on late night TV, I’d say the ad has made its mark.
