Seth Meyers on 10 Years of Day Drinking

The last one with Paul Rudd was the first time I took something ahead of time: a charcoal pill. I was maybe a little bit less hungover. There’s not much you can do. About an hour into shooting, we start to eat some greasy food.

Wasn’t it hard to convince guests to come on Day Drinking? Were you pitching celebrities to come do the segment?

After Retta we pitched people we thought would be game. I think Kelly Clarkson was pretty early, and the Barefoot Contessa. Our white whale was always Rihanna. Post-Rihanna, the floodgates opened.

“Our white whale was always Rihanna. Post-Rihanna the floodgates opened.”

Photo by Jon Pack/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Rihanna was the game changer. Could you sense something special happening while you were filming?

I was definitely nervous about just talking to Rihanna, really. We said hello to each other a couple times when she was a musical guest on SNL. But the funny thing is, you have a few drinks and you’re like, ‘Hey, Rihanna, we’ve really got a thing going here.’

I am a control freak about comedy, and yet, you have a couple drinks, and then that part of you is like, ‘Alright, bye. I leave you to your instincts.’ The next morning, the worst part is not the hangover, the worst part is waking up and the shame of like, ‘what did I do?’ Oh, and also, we definitely filmed it.

Do you think Rihanna got drunk during that segment?

I think she drank a lot. I don’t think she got drunk.

Obviously people have different alcohol tolerances. Was there anyone who surprised you with how hard they were going?

Kevin [Hart] went really hard. Paul [Rudd] and I both went equally hard. You want somebody who wants to go for it? With Ina Garten, I’m drunk, she’s fine, and that’s fun. But it’s more fun when we’re both drunk.