Since joining the cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in 2001, Seth Myers rose through the ranks quickly, landing the prime gig of “feature player” with the 2003 season.
Myers was born and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire. He enrolled at Northwestern University, known for its alumni of Hollywood players and powerhouses. Shortly after earning his degree, Myers joined a traveling comedy group called Boom Chicago, and took the act on the road. Arguably one of comedy’s more well-traveled figures, he performed not just in the U.S. but also London, Singapore, Edinburgh and Amsterdam, where he lived for a period. While in Amsterdam, he wrote and starred in a two-person comedy show called “Pick-ups and Hiccups,” with co-creator Jill Benjamin. They staged the show five nights a week for its duration.
Myers caught the attention of an “SNL” scout while performing at the Chicago Improv Festival, after which he was invited to try out for the show. With his everyday, boyish good looks, Myers cultivated a wisecracking, confident persona. Among his more popular characters were one half of the showbiz gossip reporters on “The Spy Glass,” a spoof of trashy British tabloid television, the belaguered TV director forced to deal with the obtuse Donald Trump (Darrell Hammond) and as “The Zinger,” a workplace insult king. His impression of Senator John Kerry was destined to earn him a place among other famed “SNL” presidential impersonations, such as Dana Carvey’s George Bush, Phil Hartman’s Ronald Reagan or Hammond’s Bill Clinton – had Kerry not been defeated in the 2004 election.
Myers’ silver screen work was much more limited, and consisted mainly of small parts in obscure movies such as “Maestro,” “Thunder Road,” and “See This Movie.” But as his profile widened with “SNL,” he joined higher profile projects, such as “American Dreamz,” (lensing, 2005) a satire of reality TV and politics, from Paul and Chris Weitz, of “American Pie” and “About a Boy” fame. Myers parlayed an “SNL”sketch idea into a feature length film idea, called “Key Party” (lensing, 2005) in which a couple throws a wife-swapping party with disastrous results.