Leslie Jones and Seth Meyers reunite to talk election shenanigans and pick their next binge-watch

Sure, Seth Meyers has become one of the most-watched late-night hosts for cogently funny takes on the news since taking over Late Night. And there’s certainly plenty of news, what with a sitting president mounting multiple, contradictory legal challenges to stop (or restart) the voting in states where he is ahead (or behind). (A strategy based on the legal principle, “I’m rich and white and I want it! It’s mine!”) And, yes, Meyers did do an extended edition of his A Closer Look segment examining the tentatively hopeful sight of Trump and his cronies pitching a collective, on-air kicky-fit like a group of police-busted trust-fund prep schoolers being told for the first time in their lives that, yes, the law does apply to them, too.

But Meyers has been bringing us some seriously necessary comfort food by having on some of his favorite former Saturday Night Live pals come by/call in just to chat. It was Leslie Jones’ turn on a still-contentious Wednesday, with everyone’s doomscrolling, sleep-deprived brains treated to a couple of segments of the duo’s long-proven ability to make viewers happy, if just for a little while. They did talk some election stuff, with Jones animatedly mocking Trump’s 2 a.m. Mussolini speech declaring himself winner (insert Michael Scott “I declare bankruptcy!” mental gif here), saying it’s an old entertainment industry trick from the veteran reality show and mail-order meat man. Jones compared it to the way radio stations played a certain Ed Sheeran song every half-hour until you decided that its ubiquity in your rattling brain meant it was a real banger. As for the networks’ coverage of the ongoing, necessarily lengthy process (that Trump is trying to stop) of getting vote tallies right during a pandemic and with record-smashing voter turnout, Jones railed at big board “weathermen” like MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki and CNN’s walk-and-talk specialist Andrew Cuomo for trying to gin up the drama. “You’re not important!,” Jones exclaimed in relatable election-watching rage.

But for Jones, currently hosting and producing the Supermarket Sweep reboot, coming to see Seth (albeit virtually from Los Angeles) means settling on just what show the two are going to binge-watch for our entertainment now that Game Of Thrones is over. As you recall, the friends’ Late Night segments talking over their initial viewings of the HBO series made for some great, reliably hilarious TV. (Seriously, Jones’ reaction when Meyers sprang an in-costume surprise visitor from Westeros is pure, dragon-sized joy.) They’re both enjoying pal Jason Sudeikis’ turn as Ted Lasso, but seemed to settle eventually on another HBO prestige drama in Lovecraft Country, whose mix of scares and strong Black leads kicking ass against the twin evils of racism and eldritch otherworldly abominations had the pair immediately tingly with anticipation. Jones—who pledged to stop watching so Meyers could catch up—called the Misha Green-led series, “one of the best shows on television,” as well as, “the type of stuff I like to see Black people do.” Plus—scary monsters to scream and throw popcorn at. Sounds perfect, so watch out for that.

Saying their goodbyes, Jones (who also talked about the surreal experience of being onset with Eddie Murphy in his Prince Akeem duds on Coming 2 America) mocked Meyers one last time, calling out his modesty when former SNL chum John Mulaney asked if Meyers thought he was a handsome guy. “You should be president,” Jones enthused about her former, pre-Colin Jost Weekend Update foil, referring to his “glassy blue eyes,” and noting that, upon seeing Jost take over the Update desk, “They’re just making pretty white men in this building.” “This could not have gone better for me,” joked Jones about her former workplace.