Transcripts For KNTV Late Night With Seth Meyers 20170516

Classified information fall into the hands of donald trump . [ laughter ] do you want it . Here you go. [ laughter ] President Trump, this weekend, gave the commencement speech at liberty university. While yet again the commencement speech at Trump University was given by a raccoon that wandered on stage. [ laughter ] dont leave your trash out. President trump yesterday wished Melania Trump a happy mothers day on twitter. It was sweet. But not as sweet as her reply. [ laughter and applause ] White House Press White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said today that there is no need for a special prosecutor in the russia investigation. Of course, this is one of those cases where it matters how he said it. Did he say theres no need for a special prosecutor . Or was it more like, you dont need a special prosecutor to figure this one out. [ light laughter ] look, heres a picture of trump in the white house with a russian spy. Should we call columbo or are we good . [ light laughter ] citizens arrest at this point . President trump yesterday issued a statement calling for paid family leave. Which is a little surprising until you remember that hes already paid two families to leave. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] could argue better off. An argument could be made. The new york yankees this weekend retired derek jeters number. But a lot of women still have it. [ laughter ] congratulations, captain. Parents at a Florida School are reportedly outraged after a video surfaced of students in a classroom twerking and giving lap dances. Or as its called in florida career day. [ laughter and applause ] Customs Officials in malaysia have seized over 300 tortoises that were being smuggled through the airport. 300 tortoises, or as its technically known known, a Mcconnell Family reunion. [ laughter and applause ] and finally, a 101yearold man recently became the oldest person to sky dive. At least thats the explanations coming from united airlines. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] grandpa wouldnt get out of his seat. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a great show for you tonight. His new stand up special on netflix, staying alive, is fantastic. One of our favorites. Tracy morgan [ cheers and applause ] back on the show. He is a legendary actor and comedian and stars in amcs Better Call Saul. Michael mckean is here tonight. [ cheers and applause ] i dont know if youve been watching Better Call Saul, but it is fantastic and he is just wonderful in it. Also, hell be here to talk about his book and Everything Else thats going on. The vanishing american adult is out tomorrow. U. S. Senator for nebraska, ben sasse is joining us. [ cheers and applause ] so happy to have him here. Before we get to all that, were at a point now in the Trump Presidency that feels very much like a Pivotal Moment for our democracy. An increasing authoritarian president relying on a small circle of loyalists abusing his power. And on top of that, just before we started taping, the Washington Post reported that trump revealed classified information to russian diplomats. For more on all of this, its time for a closer look. [ cheers and applause ] seth of course, every time it feels like weve hit peek trump insanity, the obamas have a way of popping back up in the news with another perfectlytimed stop on their miss us yet . World tour. [ laughter ] and this time it was the former first lady talking about life after the white house at an event in d. C. On friday. How are you . How is it being free . Whats going on . Im good, im good. Just hangin out. Everybodys good. President s good. Hes, you know, running around out there in the world with his shirt unbuttoned. [ laughter ] seth its amazing how the same sentence can take on different meanings when describing different people. If you heard someone say trumps running around with his shirt unbuttoned, youd think, oh god, hes gone feral. [ light laughter ] quick someone, shoot him with the tranquilizer dart. But its true. Obama has been running around with his shirt unbuttoned. Just look at this photo of him in milan last week. And hey, man, i think its great that youre a record producer now but next time you leave the studio, could you pick up a newspaper, because this dude you left us with is out of his mind. [ light laughter ] in fact, amid all the chaos in the Trump Presidency right now, even the small details about trumps daily routine convey the image of a man who is drowning in trivial obsessions. Just take this anecdote you may have heard by now about his dining habits from Time Magazine last week the waiters know well trumps personal preferences. When the chicken arrives, he is the only one given an extra dish of sauce. At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream with his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else. [ laughter ] also, im the president , so i get the highest chair. [ laughter and applause ] now, as far as as far as who got no scoops of ice cream last week, that would be trumps surrogates, who did the rounds trying to explain why trump fired fbi director james comey. As you may recall, trumps team insisted repeatedly that it had nothing to do with the russia investigation. And that trump would never interfere with such an investigation by say, asking the fbi director if he himself was the target of that investigation, as Kellyanne Conway argued last week. In a paragraph in his letter, where the president if its true admits that he asked the director of the fbi whether or not he was directly under investigation and he was told it doesnt say that. Oh, yes, it does. It is so no. You just made a statement thats false. Its so wrong if that communication happened. I dont know that its false. I dont know that the president didnt ask him. Well then you shouldnt have said it. Where does it say that the president asked the fbi director comey it does not say that he expressly asked him well then you shouldnt have said that. Seth yeah, how dare you . President trump would never just outright ask the fbi director, am i understand investigation. Did you ask, am i under investigation . I actually asked him. Yes. [ laughter ] seth cnn, why do you keep putting Kellyanne Conway on the air . Her statements are like milk you leave out over night. They go bad real quick. [ light laughter ] trump surrogates also claimed repeatedly that comeys firing had absolutely nothing to do with the russia investigation. Did the president fire director comey to impede the russia investigation . Look, thats not what this is about. This absolutely has nothing to do with any investigation into russia. This whole idea, that especially on your network, you always want to talk about russia, russia, russia. Seth that of course is known in legal circles as the jan brady defense russia, russia, russia [ laughter and applause ] well, after days of his white house insisting otherwise, trump last week just flat out admitted that he did in fact fire the fbi director specifically because comey was investigating the trump campaigns ties to russia. When i decided to just do it, i said to myself i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. Its an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. Seth normally you only get a confession that blatant at the end of the episode of law order svu. [ light laughter ] but trumps like a guy who answers the door in the first five minutes, sees icet, and says, im guilty. And then the rest of the episode is just like a bake sale. [ laughter ] so to recap, trump openly admits that he asked the fbi director if he was under investigation and then fired the fbi director specifically because of that investigation. In a way its actually disorienting how blatant trump is about all the shady stuff he does. Trump just admits to wrongdoing and then dares the rest of us to do something about it. Hes like a [ bleep ] High School Student who always get a pass because his parents are wealthy. Donny, is this your marijuana . So what if it is . My parents wont ground me. [ light laughter ] in fact, when i go home tonight, im getting two scoops of ice cream. [ laughter ] so the white house spent two full days lying repeatedly to the public about what happened with comeys firing. In fact, trump openly admitted over the weekend that his team was not being truthful. But he had an excuse, telling fox news that he moves too quickly for his staff to keep up. I am a very active person. I have a lot of very positive things going on right up here for this country. Its impossible for a person or two people or three people, who are press people, to cover every aspect of what im thinking and what im doing. Are you moving so quickly that your Communications Department cannot keep up with you . Yes. Thats true. [ light laughter ] seth no. No, its not true. [ laughter ] you do not move too quickly for anyone. Have you seen yourself move . [ laughter ] you walk like the mummy in a 1940s horror move. And while were talking about trump being active, trump apparently has a very bizarre theory about exercise. The new yorker and the Washington Post recently reported and this is real that trump considers exercise misguided and gave up athletics after college, because he believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted. [ laughter ] you know, like the famous nike ad, just save it up and store it. [ laughter ] so the president has now admitted that he fired the fbi director, because he didnt like the investigation into his campaigns ties to russia. But thats not all. It also emerged that comey refused to pledge personal loyalty to trump in a private dinner. And now trump is threatening to release secret tapes of that dinner. Long before President Trump fired fbi director james comey, he asked him for his personal loyalty. So comey is summoned to a oneonone private dinner with President Trump and at that dinner, as comey tells it, President Trump asked him for his loyalty. During that dinner a source says comey was taken aback when trump asked for a personal pledge of loyalty, which comey refused to provide. President trump threatening the former fbi director, james comey. Writing a tweet, and im quoting the president now james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversation before he starts leaking to the press. Seth so comey refused to pledge loyalty to trump, trump fired him, and now trump is threatening him with secret recordings of their conversations. Now Everyone Wants to know if these tapes are real. And i can you, they are. In fact, we got our hands on the tape of trump and comeys conversation and i cannot stress enough this is real. We definitely did not cut together preexisting statements made by trump and comey. This is the actual recording of their conversation. Welcome to the white house. Thank you. If its possible would you let me know am i under investigation . I cant answer that question. Hey, im president. Can you believe it . It makes me mildly nauseous. [ laughter ] seth so to recap, the president is literally threatening the former fbi director for his perceived disloyalty and admitting that he fired him because of the russia investigation. Thats insane. Trump is worse than nixon. Hes shameless nixon. Nixon famously said i am not a crook. Trump is basically saying, i am a crook and theres nothing you can do about it. In fact, after dinner tonight, im having three scoops of ice cream. [ laughter ] now if trump really was secretly recording conversations in the white house, it actually wouldnt be anything new for him. In fact, he has a history of spying on his employees. According to the Washington Post and buzzfeed trump installed, in trump tower, a system for secretly tape recording business meetings. And at his maralago resort, trump had a telephone consol installed in his bedroom that acted like a switch board. And several employees said he used that consol to eavesdrop on calls involving staff. And they all probably knew he was eavesdropping, because he breathes like a whale coming up for air. [ breathing heavily ] must save battery. [ laughter ] but as unnerving as all this is, its not all that surprising coming from trump, who notoriously values personal loyalty above all else. And in our system of government thats dangerous. In fact, weve seen trump ask for loyalty before from his supporters. Like during the campaign when he began asking his crowds to pledge the vote for him. Although, as you might remember, not everyone went along with it. Raise your right hand, everybody. Do you swear that youre going to vote for donald trump tomorrow . Raise that hand. I do solemnly swear. Look at the furry, fourlegged audience member, who seemed to be an unwilling pledge participant. Seth that dog was like, no thanks. I have to consider my vote carefully. He might be your president for for years, but hell be my president for 28. [ light laughter ] so to recap, trump has now been turned down on loyalty pledges by the director of the fbi and a dog. And that dog is right. In our system, we dont pledge personal loyalty to president s. In fact, theyre supposed to be checks on the president to prevent these kinds of abuses to power, but those checks only work if the other branches of government exercise them. Now, weve seen the judiciary check trumps authority, like when his travel ban was struck down by the courts. But what about congress . Well so far most republicans seem content to surrender our Democratic Institutions for short term political expediency. Its really quiet on the republican side of the aisle today. I didnt see it coming, but its a decision the president s made and well go from here. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell is rejecting calls for a special prosecutor. What are your thoughts about what some have considered to be a threatening tweet from the president directed at ive decided im not going to comment on the tweets of the day or the hour. You talk to the presideent all the time, would it be okay with you if he recording those conversations . Ive never given any thought to that. Seth ive never given any thought to that. In fact, i dont think about anything the president does. Thats how i sleep at night. [ laughter ] and on top of all this, you might also remember that trump met last week with the Russian Ambassador and foreign minister in the oval office the day after he fired comey. And just before we started taping tonight, the Washington Post reported that in that meeting President Trump revealed highly classified information to that Russian Foreign minister and ambassador. A u. S. Official said trump revealed more information to the Russian Ambassador than we have shared with our own allies. Now i know why the russians are smiling in that picture. Look at them. They must have been like, can you believe how easy this is . I cant believe this. [ light laughter ] did not even ask for it, just gives. [ light laughter ] our democracy only works if both parties choose to exercise the checks on president ial power that our constitution prescribes. Republicans cant just abdicate their responsibility. So hands up. Who thinks its time for republicans to stand up . There we go. This has been a closer look. [ cheers and applause ] well be right back with tracy morgan, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] [music conversation] music volume rises you guys wanna go . [whistles] get all summer essentials 30, 40, and 50 percent off. Hi, fashion. Old navy doto be our next spokesperson . M hes so boring. Hm. Sounds like youre on the fence. Why dont i just leave you my resume . Yes, its laminated. No thanks. Youre hired try the new caramel m ms. Ow. How do you become americas bestselling brand . You make it detect what they dont. Stop, stop, stop sorry. You make it sense whats coming. Watch, watch, watch mom. Relax im relaxed. You make it for 16year olds. Whoawhoawhoa and the parents who worry about them. You saw him, right . Going further to help make drivers, better drivers. Dont freak out on me. Thats ford. And thats how you become americas bestselling brand. First you start with this. These guys. A place like shhh no. Found it and definitely lipton ice tea. Lots of it. A lipton meal is what you bring to it. And the refreshing taste of lipton iced tea. Mohi teddy. S teddy. Oh youre a hugger, huh . Im a bear. Say hello to teddy. A new treat baked to perfection using quality ingredients. Like flour, milk and eggs. Discover teddy soft bakes. Oh no, looks like somebody needs a new network. When i got this unlimited plan they told me they were all the same. Theyre not. Verizon has the largest, mostreliable 4g lte network in america. Its basically made for places like this. Honey, what if it was just us out here . Right. So, i ordered you a car. Thank you. You dont want to be out here at night cause of the, uh, coyotes. Ok, thanks, bud. Bye. Be nice to have your car for some shelter. Bye. When it really, really matters, you need the best network and the best unlimited. Just 45 per line for four lines. [ cheers and applause ] seth welcome back, everybody. Give it up for the 8g band right over there. [ cheers and applause ] also joining us this week, one of the most influential musicians in the modern jazz world, and you can hear his grammy awardwinning playing on the late great david bowies no plan ep. Mike guiliana on drums, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] thank you so much for being her, mark. Our first guest tonight is an emmynominated actor and comedian you know from his work on saturday night live and 30 rock. His new stand up special, tracy morgan staying alive, begins streaming may 16th on netflix. Please welcome back to the show one of our favorites, tracy morgan, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] seth how are you tracy . Im good seth im always so happy to see you. Are you . Seth yeah. Really . Seth yeah im glad youre happy to see me. Seth of course. Thats right. Seth youve been through a lot in the last couple years. Were all very happy to see you. Really . Seth yeah. Okay. Seth and this special, you actually open up, and you talk about everything you went through with your accident. Was it was it hard to come to the decision to talk about it so openly . It wasnt hard. I got my money. [ laughter ] seth okay, good. But i dont like to i dont like to talk about money, you know it disconnects me from my audience and stuff. And besides, do i look like the type of dude thats got a fan base with money . Seth no, no, i guess not. [ laughter ] my fans go to the strip club after they see me. [ light laughter ] seth you talk about how you feel as though you you almost passed to the other side, and then they sent you back. Yeah, you know god he sort of angels bringing me to the pearly gates, he said, aw, take him back down. [ light laughter ] seth and why is that . Hes going to do a whole 89 years for what he did in the third grade. [ laughter ] seth okay. You know youre supposed to put an apple on the teachers desk . I put a bag of doodoo on the teachers desk. He failed me in social studies. I didnt even know what social studies was. Seth and im sorry i know i aint fail it, cause i copied off the smart girl. You know, im sitting right next to her. She passed, and i failed. Seth im sorry, so you think this is why god sent you back . [ laughter ] everything goes down in the big book. Seth yeah. Oh i guess i see what youre saying. Yeah. God dont be playing no jokes. God listen, hes a hard ass, thats cause he old testament. Seth uhhuh. Yeah. Jesus new testament, so he cool. Seth okay, got you. I rolled a joint with jesus. Seth oh, you did. [ laughter ] you had a lot of time he rolls good. Tight seth oh, really . [ light laughter ] on a Stevie Wonder album cover. [ laughter ] you know when Stevie Wonder got the braids and hes sitting on the rock like this. Seth yeah, yeah, yeah. He rolled it on that cover. [ laughter ] wasnt a lot of seeds either. Seth oh, wow. Well thats good grass. Seth this is a lot. Im finding out a lot out about jesus that i did not know. Man loves cheech and chong. Seth jesus likes cheech and chong . Yeah, he loves cheech and chong. Seth wow, now you obviously had family visit you in the hospital. And theres a member of your family that is really you talking about flossy. Seth yeah, your aunt flossy. Flossy is a mess. Seth so, tell us about your aunt flossy. Seth flossy is a mess. She just always want to be in the middle of some family drama. Seth okay. Like, i knew she came to see me before she even got to my room, because i heard her say, who you calling [ bleep ] . [ light laughter ] like, she got a surgeon to call her [ bleep ]. [ light laughter ] this guy graduated harvard, and you took him to that point . [ light laughter ] shes just too much man. Like, one time my grandmother she was 72 when it happened she went back and got her ged and we were so happy. Seth uhhuh. We were so proud of her. And like, flossy was sitting in the corner. She said, she still stupid. [ laughter ] i said, flossy, thats your mother she said, so, what she going to got to college now . How she going to get there . The underground railroad . [ laughter ] so flossy like, shes even mean like that to her husband, bobby. Like, bobby is my favorite uncle. He cant read. You know, hes a butcher. And you know how she would introduce him to people . Hi, this is my husband bobby. Hes limited. [ laughter ] seth flossy has how many teeth does flossy have . Flossy got three teeth. And two of those is in her pocket. [ laughter ] seth i want to ask you about this. You have some concerns about air travel right now. Yeah, i just bought up all the seats on a united air flight. Seth uhhuh. I bought all the seats, because aint nobody beating me up. Seth got you. [ laughter ] so you dont want to risk i dont even got to go to vegas to see mayweather fight. I just go buy something on delta. Seth yeah. Yeah. I just cant deal with it no more. Its too much violence. Seth yeah, youre worried about that on a flight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, theres not even a psa that comes over the you know the speaker. Theres just somebody going, lets get ready to rumble [ laughter ] theres somebody on the windshield of the airplane going, ding, ding, ding, ding. Seth are you excited that were coming up on summer . Are you looking forward oh, man. I dont know, man. Its raining now. It feels good. But last year it was too hot for me. It was so hot one time i took the train, and my testicles was sticking to somebody elses legs. [ laughter ] its so hot. Its hot you know, do the right thing hot. You know, planet of apes hot. Seth now i know when you when you came out of your coma you wanted to find out you decided that you wanted to find out more about yourself. Oh, yeah. Seth and you went on ancestry. Com. They told you about that. Seth yeah. Yeah, i went on ancestry. Com, because i wanted to know who i was. I was introspective. I wanted to know where i come from. You know . I wanted to know where i come from. So i took the ancestry. Com, and the results just came back. Seth and so, were you surprised . Well, you know the chart says 25 native american, 25 africanamerican, 10 irish . My whole chart just said black dude from brooklyn. [ laughter ] i come from a long line of black dudes from brooklyn. Seth nothing . Not a single percentage of anything else . Yeah, coney island. My great, great grand uncle was the first black dude on that roller coaster, cyclone. Seth yeah . Yeah, he was the first dude on that. Seth the first dude on it, or the first black dude on it . Scared the crap out of him. Seth yeah . Turned his hair white. Seth really . He looked like fredrick douglas. [ light laughter ] seth how old was he when his hair went white . 32. Seth okay. Well youve avoided that at least. Yeah, im good. Seth congratulation so much on the special. Its really great. Are you happy its over . That you got it all out there . I mean, yeah, i mean i relived it, i relived it. And i lived with it for a while, and i went through it so it made me a better person. But im glad i get to share my story, and my testimony with yall in a funny way. Its going to be good. Seth yeah, its great. Its going to be good. [ cheers and applause ] seth im always so happy let me tell you something, man. Take it from me without your health you aint nobody. Youre nothing. Look at tiger woods. He was the greatest golf in the world. Four back surgeries later, hes just a normal black dude like me now. Seth okay. [ laughter ] i dont mess with tiger no more, because at the height of his career he like he hurt me. He got on oprah and said he wasnt black. He said he was cablinasian. What is that, like cablevision mixed with asian . Seth okay, i dont know. [ light laughter ] your fathers name is earl earl woods [ laughter ] he use to mess with my aunt up in harlem. [ light laughter ] seth earl . Yeah, earl come up there driving that white van. Always drive that white van, see that white van double parked every where. You know tiger got two halfbrothers up in harlem now. Seth he does . I did not know that. Clifford and barney. Seth i didnt [ light laughter ] i im happy im here. Seth yeah, im happy youre here too. You always seem to me, and all the time i knew you, to be somebody who appreciated life. And now you seem to appreciate it even more. Its always great to see you. Give it up for tracy morgan, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] tracy morgan staying alive begins streaming may 16th on netflix. Well be right back with michael mckean. [ cheers and applause ] nd new car. Nobodys hurt, but there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Is thno, its, uh, breyers gelato indulgences. You really wouldnt like it. Its got caramel and crunchy stuff. I like caramel and crunchy stuff. Breyers gelato indulgences. Its way beyond ice cream. Mr. Brady, weve been expecting you. Will you be needing anything else . Not a thing. Beautyrest black. Get your beautyrest. Beautyrest black. When you eat a subway® 6 footlong sub of the day. Its the taste you love, at a price you cant get enough of. The 6 footlong sub of the day. Seven days, seven footlongs, seven more ways to enjoy subway®. To encourage trying, goodnessknows invited people whove always wanted to act, to try. Know what give goodness go. Its made with real fruit, whole fruit and dark choc. Whole nuts and dark chocolate. Now you know what goodnessknows knows. Every try is a step to being your best. Try a little goodness [ cheers and applause ] seth our next guest is an Academy Awardnominated and grammy awardwinning actor who you know from spinal tap and the movie a mighty wind. Hes currently starring in Better Call Saul, which airs on mondays at 10 00 pm on amc. Lets take a look. I am not crazy. I know he swapped those numbers. I knew it was 1216. One after magna carta. As if i could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never i just i just couldnt prove it. He he covered his tracks. He got that idiot at the copy shop to lie for him. Mr. Mcgill, please. You dont have to you think this is something . You think this is bad . This this chicanery. Hes done worse. Seth please welcome to the show michael mckean, everyone. [ cheers and applause ] seth how are you . Im good. I have to follow me saying hes been worse. Seth yeah, well, there you go. Hes done worse. Yeah. Yeah. Seth on the clip you have to be careful. Congrats on the show. Thank you very much. Seth for those who arent watching, and they really should be, this is sort of Better Call Saul is an origin story yeah. Seth for many of the characters we then thats correct. Seth come to know in breaking bad. Yeah, theyve been creeping them in through the last couple of seasons. Seth and have you were you a fan of breaking bad . Oh, i was. Seth so that must have been very exciting when this call first came down. It was. Yeah. Seth yeah. Yes. Seth and you play Bob Odenkirks brother. Im americas sweet heart. Seth you are americas [ light laughter ] im probably the most beloved character on t. V. Right now. Seth yeah. Yes. [ laughter ] seth a very overbearing older brother. You think so . Seth because america loves that. Yes, they do. Seth and we sort of you know its interesting you mentioned how theyre sort of slowly bringing characters into this show. Right, right. Seth this show and i love this show, this is not meant as a criticism. This is the most patient show on television. Oh, absolutely. Seth they give you just very little bits of the character over time. Yeah. Seth your character you have sort of this nebulous medical affliction. Yeah. Seth youre this brilliant lawyer but you have this as an actor are they, like, telling you where its going . No. Seth or are you sort of finding out a little bit at a time . No, we kind of developed it together, really. They watched me and bob together and they said, well, thats the kind of brothers they are. And they started writing in that direction. Same thing with the affliction. I always had to play it as if it was real, because we saw him alone and he was suffering from it alone. As to whether its this or, you know, something down stairs we dont know yet. Seth yeah, its a really its fun, the not knowing is really fascinating. And had you known bob odenkirk . Did you guys have a history . Oh, yeah, yeah. I knew bob slightly from the days when i worked here. Seth right. He had worked here a couple of seasons before i did, on the writing staff primarily. And he was the guy i would see all the time. Whos that funny guy . Thats bob odenkirk. So we didnt really have too much interaction. But then a couple of years later i ran into him and i said, man, we worship at the shrine of mr. Show at our place. So i got a phone call saying, you want to do one . Seth oh, thats great. Yeah. And it was awesome. Seth so you mentioned you worked here. You did one season of saturday night live. You want to talk about my tenure . Seth your tenure at saturday night live. Whats the opposite of tenure, seth . [ laughter ] seth one year. One year. Onesie. My onesie on snl. Seth but this is fascinating. Your story at snl is fascinating, because you had been a musical guest with spinal tap. Right. Seth you hosted the show. I did. Seth so you were you went the opposite direction that people go usually. I was all over the place. Seth yeah. Yeah. Thats true. Seth and so one year at the show. Was it an interesting time . It was a strange time. It wasnt a marriage made in heaven, ive got to say. I think one reason that lorne hired me, i had just done coneheads seth uhhuh. With lorne and we had, you know, a nice time together. And phil hartman was leaving the show. And im, you know, a couple of years older than phil. And so they knew that they needed adult. They needed someone to be david spades dad. Seth okay. Gotcha. [ light laughter ] and what they didnt tell me was they needed someone to take over as clinton. And i had no clinton and phil hatman had major clinton. Seth yeah. I mean he was he owned it and i mean, i just thought he was he brilliant at everything. But, yeah seth its hard thing yeah. It was like following the beatles version of yesterday with mine. [ laughter ] seth right. You know, its just not going to be the same. Seth well, you didnt follow the beatles but you did create one of the great fake rock bands of all time. Spinal tap is the beatles of not real rock bands. And i genuinely mean it. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] thank you. Seth not only that. It was you know, it gave us this wonderful genre of mockumentary. And do you still get recognized as david st. Hubbins . Well, not now i dont. Seth yeah. Because i got the chin spinach going here. Seth uhhuh. [ light laughter ] but, no, yes, people do, people do. I had a great moment. The movie had been out for about 10 years and it wasnt a big hit in the theaters. But it was a big home video hit and a lot of people got to know it. And it was on every tour bus in the world. Seth sure. Every rock tour bus except ours. But i was in new york city, i was on sixth avenue and eighth street and i was just standing there waiting there for the light to change. And this cop car goes rolling by. Its a summer day, the windows were all rolled down. And both of these cops at the same time start singing big bottom at me. [ laughter ] and i said, man, i love new york. Seth yeah. [ laughter ] i do. I do love new york. Seth and now youre currently on broadway. Youre doing little foxes. Yes. Im doing little foxes. Seth congratulations. Six tony nominations for the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Seth really exciting. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. Its a very cool show. Seth laura linney. Cynthia nixon. Yeah. Seth and you play you play a big brother is this as well. I do. The worst an even worse big brother. Seth yeah. Except that i actually have a fairly close relationship with one the with my sister, who is played on alternate nights seth yeah, they flip parts. By laura and cynthia. Ive got to say going in i kind of had hopes of a, kind of a Joan Crawford betty davis fued thing going on. Seth yeah. Who doesnt want to be around a feud . Didnt work out. Didnt work out. Seth now they get along and everything . They adore each other and its so boring. Seth yeah. [ laughter ] but we do have a nice time. Were all kind of closeted in the dining room. Kind of unseen by the audience. And right before we go on we all join hands and chant Lillian Hellmans name, the author of the play. We all go, lillian, lillian, lillian, lillian. [ light laughter ] and it works. We get into a zone. [ laughter ] seth well, congratualtions. Thank you so much. Seth and thank you so much for being here. My pleasure. Seth the shows fantastic. My pleasure. [ cheers and applause ] seth michael mckean, everybody. Better call saul airs monday nights at 10 00 pm on amc. Well be right back with senator ben sasse. [ cheers and applause ] Company Three years in a row. Really. Lets see how quickly you can read through all their awards. 2017 motor trend car of the year. Kelley blue book 2016 best resale value. U. S. News best car for the money. 10 best blah blah blah 2015. Only about 90 more to go thats a lot of awards find your tag and get 20 below msrp. On select malibu vehicles in stock. Thats five thousand, two hundred dollars. On this chevy malibu. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. 100 beef burgers melty goa certain amount of classiness is to be expected. Woah, okay. Not that much. The all new bacon gouda burger from dennys. Its classy. This isay selfie mazing. All girls selfie you must be hashtag devastated. Thanks captain obvious. Selfies arent always rewarding. But hotels. Com is. Save up to 50 during the hotels. Com memorial day sale. Are you still trying to perthats like serena. Er . Trying to perform with an old racket. Ahhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhh you can say that again. Ahhhhhhhh upgrade your game to intels fastest processor. I dont think thats how theyre made. Klondike hooks up with tasty flavors. The best ice cream bars ever conceived. Inside the rack houses every barrel is aged four long years, for a fuller, smoother flavor. Our history is made from the inside. How will you make yours . This is the story of how q got curly. Quin was crazy about curls. Curly fries. Curly straws. Curly haired dogs. Even those cute curly tails on pigs. But to quins chagrin everything about her was so very straight. Which made the next twist so amazing. Did she expect to find a highend hair curler at a mindbendingly low price . Never. But thats the beauty of a store full of surprises. You never know what youre gonna find, but you know youre gonna love it. Marshalls. Your surprise is waiting. [ cheers and applause ] seth our next guest is a republican u. S. Senator who represents the state of nebraska. His new book, the vanishing american adult our comingofage crisis and how to rebuild a culture of selfreliance, is in stores tomorrow. Please welcome to show senator ben sasse, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] seth how are you . Im doing well. Seth thank you so much for making the time for us. Thank for having me. Seth now, i want to start with this in i know this just happened so it might not you might not have had time to fully process. But there is this report in the the Washington Post that donald trump, in his meeting with the foreign minister and the ambassador to russia, leaked some classified information. Do you have any response to that . And again, i know this happened very recently. Well, when you have the day job i have, its like every 12 minutes if youre away from twitter seth yeah. It can always be like this kind of a moment. Because you dont really know whats just happened. But, i mean, big picture theres a lot we dont know. But i think three things are relevant immediately. The first is sources and methods are the life blood of our intelligence community. And we need spies, because the world is a broken place. And we need people to protect americas interests around the world. And so we need to, as a people, well before youre republican or democrat, care about sources and methods. Number two, a lot of times media does kind of hyperventilate real quickly and its hard to calibrate some of these stories. Which ones are a really big deal and which ones are maybe not defcon four. And so we need to distinguish between illegality and imprudence. Its really hard for a president , of any party at any time, to violate Confidentiality Laws because hes the ultimate declassifier. Thats a different question than imprudence. Seth this story i believe the story even says this is not about illegality. This far more about imprudence. Right. And then point three is, its russia and thats not helpful at this time. Because they dont have our interests at heart. Russia wants to fracture nato. And theres just a lot about it thats bumpy and seth now you were someone who came out fairly forcefully against donald trump, because you did not believe that he stood for your conservative principles. And some of the spheres you laid out was that you thought that he would erode the First Amendment of the constitution. Were now over 100 days in. Has donald trump met your fears, been worse than your fears, or has he ended up being better than you would have thought he was . You know, i think were at a time where theres rapidly eroding public trust. And right now you have hallowed out local institutions and politicization of most national conversations. And i think most americans want to have a political fight between right and left or between democrats and republicans that are about a policy continuum thats here. But thats subordinate to assured civic understanding of what americas about. And right now were not having any of those conversations. And i just wish the president would have a focus on five and ten years out kind of stuff, are we going to have rebuilt a lot of the public trust of a d. C. That usually has 9 public approval. Seth yeah. I dont think hes thinking til wednesday. [ laughter ] i dont get the sense that hes planning hes long view guy. I believe the left, and you did not ask for this, but saw in you, oh, this is someone who maybe stands i know this was not your label but nevertrumpism was sort of put out you. You were the face of a republican of principles who was going to stand up to donald trump. Yet up to this point youve voted pretty consistently, with one of the expectation, on his nominees on pretty much everything that he supported. How do you balance that . Its a fair question. But frankly it implies that d. C. Is voting on the things that are most urgent or not. This continuum of right to left about policy its well subordinate to the really big stuff in American Life. And were not tackling that. Were not having a conversation about the transformation of warfare because of cyber over the next decade and thats whats coming. When you talk to the generals and when you talk to senior Intel Community folks, they know that warfare is going to be remade in the next decade. We know that the changing nature of work is going to shrink the duration of jobs. Were not having any conversation about how migrate our entitlement programs to an era of portability. Were having these fights right here and the really big stuff is well north of both of these lame political parties. Seth but you would argue or you would say that the president is one of the problems that is keeping us down with these smaller issues . Yes . I dont think the president is outlining a longterm vision for the country right now. Seth now, it seems as though russia is getting in the way of a lot thats going on right now. A lot of the more important issues that it strikes me that you would rather deal with. A lot of people, a lot of americans want some sort of independent investigation into donald trump. Do you support that . I havent yet called for a special counsel or a special prosecutor, an independent counsel. Partly because i think one of our longterm challenges is restoring trust in some of the institutions that we have. The fbi is a perfect example. Its a really Important Agency in American Life and we need the fbi not be politicized. We need to have the American People believe they can trust it. I also think that about the Senate Intelligence committee. Richard burr, republican of north carolina. Mark warner, democrat of virginia. These are actual adults who can Work Together and dont start with their republican and democratic labels. We need the Senate Intelligence committee to work. I dont forestall a future discussion about independent counselors, special prosecutor. But i think people need to recognize its not going to be a panacea. Because when you do that, somebody will have to appoint who that person is. If its a three judge panel, two of the judges will have been democrats, one will have been a republican, and then well start saying these are political hacks as well. The longterm challenge we face, and frankly the end game that russia has, is trying to exploit our internal divisions. And right now i care a lot about 2016 and the retrospective look at that. Ive pushed hard for there to be more investigation and for it to move more urgently. But the thing im really worried about is 2018 and 2020. Because the technology around russian Cyber Attacks on america is only going to get better and better. Seth republicans have the presidency. They have the senate. They have the house. Youre talking about this erosion of trust. What are you guys going to bring to the table to help restore trust . What is something again i know its not simple, but what is something you propose that can help us have more trust than we currently have . Theres not any piece of legislation thats going to rebuild trust. I mean, we need to understand that we live in a weird moment in history. Lots of it is the Digital Mobile revolution, which is interesting and going to create lots of economic opportunity. But its also creating a media environment where more and more people can just surround themselves with a silo thats an echo chamber of what they already believe. And well talk to each other less and less and less and become more and more sure that the 2 million listeners or viewers that we watch with are the same people. We need some broader conversations about a whole bunch of stuff thats not chiefly and primary political. Because politics isnt going to come for people in their old age when theyre lonely. Theres a whole bunch of stuff thats about restoration of trust in community. And a lot of that has to start locally. And if we pretend federal politics can fix all that were lying to ourselves. Seth i want to talk to you about your book. You are a parent of three . I am. Seth and you sort of talk about toughening your kids up a little bit. Giving them a sense of a days hard work. And you sent your daughter off to a ranch. We did. Seth was this helpful . Do you feel like she learned something at the ranch that she shouldnt have learned otherwise . Oh, amen. She suffered and it was good for her and she knows it was good for her. She got nebraskas the largest cattle state in the union. We shipped her off last year as a 14yearold to help deliver baby cows. 600 cows were going to come in that month. And she had to at midnight, and 3 00 a. M. And 6 00 a. M. Go out there and try to help these mama cows deliver. And she got a rubber glove that went to her shoulder and she didnt know what was going to happen. She didnt know she might lose a watch out there. Seth wow. While helping with one of these deliveries. And she had a lifechanging experience. And as i traveled nebraska in the weeks and months after that, id take all of her texts and i would convert them to tweets. I just made up fromtheranch. And i announced to the world whatever ick factor came from my 14yearold daughter. And everywhere i went in nebraska, people didnt want to talk politics. They wanted to say how can my kid suffer, too . [ laughter ] give me the cell phone number of the rancher. Seth thats great. Now, you and your wife, melissa, is it . Yes. Seth i have to say i feel like your children are lucky very lucky. They obviously from reading this book, you care a great deal about them. And even when you send them off to put their hands up a cow it is for lessons. Its for life lessons. Its up a cow out of love. Seth i only ask you this because youre in government. What about the kids that do not have parents as good as you and your wife. What do you say to those kids who arent going to have them making choices parents making choices for them . Great question. So i think this book is written for parents, and for grandparent and for neighbors and for aunts and uncles. I think the American People want to have a question about how we can do a better job to serve our kids by helping them know that we should celebrate scar tissue. Scar tissue is the foundation of future character. And i think a lot of American Parents want to have this conversation about how we help our kids transition out of the nest. Right now its sometimes hard to tell 10 and 15 and 20yearold kids apart. And thats a new thing in human history, this category of perpetual adolescence. But this isnt just about the perfect idyllic olan mills nuclear family. This is about communities and neighbors who love the children in their place. Seth and i say this as a compliment to the childhood your children had. I do think the scar tissue they have, even when they go off to a farm, is a lot less than the scar tissue of children who grow up with less. I agree. Seth and i would just say that i know youre not a believer in big government. I do feel like the government can do a little bit more for the kids that arent lucky enough to have the sasses as parents. I hear that. [ applause ] seth and i also really appreciate you making the time. Its great to have somebody who i respect, because i do believe that you have principles and you stand by those principles and i hope you continue to do so, even though i think we disagree on a lot of stuff. But thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Seth i really appreciate it. Thank you. [ applause ] seth senator ben sasse, everybody. The vanishing american adult is in stores tomorrow. Well be right back. [ cheers and applause ] ugh, no bars. Oh no, looks like somebody needs a new network. When i got this unlimited plan they told me they were all the same. Theyre not. Verizon has the largest, mostreliable 4g lte network in america. Its basically made for places like this. Honey, what if it was just us out here . Right. So, i ordered you a car. Thank you. You dont want to be out here at night cause of the, uh, coyotes. Ok, thanks, bud. Bye. Be nice to have your car for some shelter. Bye. When it really, really matters, you need the best network and the best unlimited. Just 45 per line for four lines. Introducing ritz crisp thins. A new chip thats deliciously thin ovenbaked to perfection. With spectacular flavor. Crisp thins. The new taste from ritz. Try them. In four flavors. First you start with this. These guys. A place like shhh no. Found it and definitely lipton ice tea. Lots of it. A lipton meal is what you bring to it. And the refreshing taste of lipton iced tea. What if technology gave us the power to turn this enemy into an ally . Microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. There are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. With the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. If we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin. Give extra. Get extra. Ahyou the law . Weve had some complaints of. Is that a fire . Theres your payoff, deputy. Git velveeta shells cheese. Theres gold in them thar shells. Music volume rises ] you guys wanna go . [whistles] get all summer essentials 30, 40, and 50 percent off. Hi, fashion. Old navy [ applause ] announcer this week on late night with seth meyers jennifer hudson, naomi watts, jeffrey tambor, and horatio sanz. Head over to itunes and subscribe to the late night with seth meyers podcast and youll get a closer look and more downloaded right to your phone, everyday. [ cheers and applause ] seth my thanks to tracy morgan, michael mckean, sen. Ben sasse, everybody. Mark guiliana and, of course, the 8g band. Stay tuned for carson daly. See you tomorrow. [ cheers and applause ] carson hey, everybody. Whats happening