Lobby Baby

The defining gimmick of Seth Meyers’s first Netflix stand-up special is a literal button. Drawing inspiration from interactive television, the Late Night host offers streaming viewers a “Skip Politics” option during his brief segment on Donald Trump. It is a clever metacomedy stunt that ends with a trap: anyone who actually presses the button jumps straight to Meyers pretending he has spent the last eight minutes praising the president, joking that he hopes they agree with his glowing assessment.

Meyers taped the hour at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis, stepping out from behind his late-night desk and trading his usual suit for casual wear. Directed by Neal Brennan, the special catches the comic five years into his talk-show tenure, making a conscious effort to establish a stage presence outside of his desk-bound “Weekend Update” persona.

While the political button got the headlines, the strongest writing focuses on his domestic life. Meyers spins detailed yarns about family, including a disastrous trip to Paris, his grandfather’s Jewish heritage (and the “false advertising” of having his name and face while only being one-quarter Jewish), and the frantic delivery of his second son in his apartment building’s lobby. It is conversational, polished, and relies heavily on Meyers’s self-deprecating perspective, particularly when he adopts his wife’s persona to roast his own uselessness during childbirth.