>> announcer: from 30 rockefeller plaza in new york, it's "late night with seth meyers." tonight, tracy morgan. editor of the "new yorker," david remnick. live "new yorker" cartoons. featuring the 8g band with franklin vanderbilt. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ladies and gentlemen, seth meyers. [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: good evening, i'm seth meyers. this is "late night." how's everybody doing tonight? [ cheers and applause ] that is fantastic to hear. in that case, let's get to the news. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg is recovering in the hospital after

she fell in her office, and fractured three ribs. wow, if you had told me a supreme court justice fell over, and broke some ribs, i would have bet on the new guy. >> i liked beer. [ laughter ] >> seth: that's right. ruth bader ginsburg is recovering in the hospital after breaking three ribs, and while she's there, her staff is planning to redo her entire office in nerf. [ laughter ] according to reports, acting attorney general matthew whitaker, who will now oversee special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation has previously said the probe has gone too far. why does every trump loyalist look like the security guard at an illegal poker game in the back of an italian restaurant? [ laughter ] there is no subtlety with these guys. [ laughter ] "we need someone to protect us from the fbi. get me kingpin." according to "vanity fair --" [ cheers and applause ]

yeah. according to "vanity fair," donald trump junior has been telling friends that he's worried about being indicted by special counsel robert mueller. said don junior's friends, "i'd say, we're more like acquaintances." [ laughter ] former cnn host larry king criticized his old network yesterday saying they, quote, stopped doing news a long time ago. yeah, back when he was there, things were different. [ laughter ] [ applause ] a woman in australia last week gave birth to a 12 1/2 pound baby without any pain relief medication. [ audience groans ] said doctors, "congratulations, it's a teenager." subway officials in new york are rewriting the script that conductors use when making announcements to passengers. from now on, all announcements will begin with "you should buy a car." [ laughter ] nasa has warned that three large asteroids will make a close approach to earth this weekend,

and nobody is more nervous about it than the dinosaurs. [ laughter and applause ] a woman in ohio was arrested this week for allegedly stealing more than $1,600 worth of girl scouts cookies, but they let her off with a warning because it turned out they were the gluten free kind. [ laughter ] and finally, coca cola has announced plans to launch a new energy drink. they're calling it "original recipe." [ cheers and applause ] ladies and gentlemen, we have a fantastic show for you tonight. he is one of our favorites, and one of the funniest guests who you can find at the new york comedy festival on november 10th at the beacon theater, tracy morgan is back, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] another -- another one of our favorites, the editor of "the new yorker," and "the new yorker encyclopedia cartoons" is available now. david remnick's back, everybody. [ cheers and applause ]

and you know -- you know if david's back, we're going have a brand-new edition of "live new yorker cartoons" so you're here on a great night. so excited to talk to my guests. before we get to that, president trump is so freaked out about democrats winning back the house that he's already moving to hamstring the russia investigation. for more on this, it's time for "a closer look." ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: the more results we get from tuesday's elections, the clearer it becomes that this was a blue wave, and a national repudiation of trump's presidency. democrats had their biggest net gain in the house since watergate. they won the popular vote in the house by about seven points, and they won statewide races in key swing states like michigan, pennsylvania, ohio, and wisconsin. or as trump put it -- >> the republican party defied history, to expand our senate majority while significantly beating expectations in the house for the midtown, and midterm year.

>> seth: sorry. did you say the midtown year? [ laughter ] oh, okay. i see what's happening. trump thought it was the midtown election, not the midterm election. that's why he spent all his time campaigning at the m&m store with the times square spiderman. [ applause ] "and tonight, tonight i am happy to announce that dirty elmo has been elected to the house of representatives at bubba gump shrimp." [ laughter and applause ] so for a few hours, for a few hours, the big story was democrats massively outperforming republicans in the house, and in swing states across the country which, of course, meant trump had to do something crazy to get the spotlight back, and that's what happened yesterday when trump lost his mind on national television in a press conference. in fact, at one point, he got so mad at a question about the russia investigation that he had to walk away from the podium. >> on the russia investigation, are you concerned that you may have -- >> i'm not concerned about anything with the russia investigation --

>> you may have indictments coming down -- >> because it's a hoax. >> are you -- >> that's enough. put down the mic. >> mr. president, are you worried about indictments coming down in this investigation? [ laughter ] >> seth: look at him. president ralph kramden over there. "one of these days!" [ applause ] but aside -- aside from his usual theatrics, trump's performance yesterday was deeply revealing because it made it clear that he sees himself as above the law. in fact, he can't even explain how laws work, or how they're made. listen to trump ramble about how he can't pass tax cuts because he doesn't have the votes in congress. >> this will have to be now proposed because if we did it now, we don't have the votes in the senate. you don't have -- we would need ten democrat votes. we probably couldn't get them. if we could, we could pass it very easily in the house, but there's no reason to waste time because you don't have the votes in the senate. so now we go into the senate. we don't have the ten votes, and what happens? it doesn't get passed.

even if it gets out of the house, it doesn't get passed. >> seth: it's like watching an episode of "schoolhouse rock" if the bill overdosed on ambien. [ laughter ] now, one feature of our constitutional system is that congress gets to constrain the power of the president, and investigate him. and right after their victory in the house, democrats announced that they would use that power to request trump's tax returns, which he has hidden from the public despite the fact that presidents going back decades have released theirs. and when he was asked about that yesterday, you could tell trump was freaking out from how much he rambled through his answer. >> pointblank, democrats go after your tax returns. will you try to block that, or will you allow them to have them? >> look, as i've told you, they're under audit. they have been for a long time. they're extremely complex. people wouldn't understand them. they're done by among the biggest and best law firms in the country. same thing with the accounting firms. the accountants are very, very large, powerful firm from the standpoint of respect.

how they respect it. big firm. but when you're under audit, and i'm under very continuous audit because there's so many companies, and it is a very big company. far bigger than you would even understand, but it's a great company, but it's big, and it's complex. and it's probably feet high. it's a very complex instrument, and i think that people wouldn't understand it. >> seth: in other words, yes i have a girlfriend, but she goes to another school, and the school is in canada, and also she died. [ laughter ] also, what do you mean people wouldn't understand it? they're tax returns. trump sounds like a dad who doesn't know how to answer a question from his 5-year-old. "dad, where does wind come from?" "uh, you wouldn't understand. i definitely know the answer, but you wouldn't understand." [ laughter ] trump cannot abide any checks on his power because he sees himself as above the law.

for him, laws aren't constraints. they're weapons to be wielded against your opponents. for example, he was asked what would happen if democrats exercised their constitutional authority to investigate him, and he said that if they did that, he would consider it war. >> are you offering an my way, or highway scenario to the democrats? you're saying that -- >> negotiation. not at all. >> if they start investigating you, that you can play that game, and investigate them? >> better than them. >> can you compartmentalize that -- >> and i think i know more than they know. >> can you compartmentalize that, and still continue to work with them for the benefit of the rest of the country? >> no. >> or are all bets off? >> no. if they do that, then it's just, all it is, is a warlike posture. >> seth: a warlike posture? i'm sorry, but i wouldn't say posture is your strong suit. [ laughter and applause ] you look like someone let the air out of the michelin man. [ laughter ] in fact, trump is so petty and vindictive that he actually took

time out of his press conference to slam members of his own party who lost their re-election bids, implying that they lost because they didn't support him enough. >> candidates who embraced our message of low taxes, low regulations, low crime, strong borders, and great judges, excelled. barbara comstock was another one. i mean, i think she could have won that race, but she didn't want to have any embrace. peter roskam didn't want the embrace. erik paulsen didn't want the embrace. >> seth: why does he keep calling it the embrace? [ laughter ] sounds like a mike pence euphemism for sex. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] "once -- once a year on my birthday, we engage in the embrace." [ laughter ] it's like a "seinfeld" episode where george costanza complains that he went in for a hug on a

date, and got rejected. "i didn't get the embrace, jerry." "no embrace?" "she de-embraced." "looks like you'll have to embrace yourself." ♪ [ cheers and applause ] it's so much like a "seinfeld" episode, trump is even doing the babu finger now. >> you are a rude, terrible person -- >> he's a very bad man -- [ laughter ] >> seth: and it's not just his petty score settling. trump's vindictiveness is very much on display with his power grab at the justice department, and his decision to fire attorney general jeff sessions. in that press conference, reporters tried to ask trump how he would approach the russia investigation now that the midterms are over, and whether he would try to install a new attorney general. but trump, who spent the entire press conference rambling and yelling at people, was suspiciously coy. >> can you give us clarity, sir, on your thinking currently, now after the midterms about your

attorney general, and your deputy attorney general? do they have long-term job security? >> i'd rather answer that at a little bit different time. >> seth: you can say yes or no, but saying i'd like to answer that later is the most suspicious answer you can give. if you get pulled over, and your answer to "have you been drinking" is "let me get back to you --" [ laughter ] it's breathalyzer time. of course, it turned out that trump had already decided to fire sessions, although he refused to do it himself. >> jeff sessions was fired. he wrote a letter today saying that he was resigning at the request of the president. >> the president who became famous for the phrase, "you're fired," punting to his chief of staff to give sessions the boot. john kelly didn't even do it face to face, but opted to fire sessions by phone. >> seth: these guys are such cowards. trump didn't want to fire sessions himself, so he had kelly do it, and kelly didn't want to do it either, so he just called him. i'm surprised they didn't just send stephen miller to perch on sessions' window sill.

[ squawk ] >> you're fired. [ squawk ] >> seth: with democrats regaining power in washington, trump is now seriously threatened for the first time in his presidency, and in response he's becoming more lawless. he sees the law not as a constraint on his power, but as a tool to protect himself. and as jeff sessions just learned, he'll attack anyone in his way, whether you're an opponent who hates him, or a supporter who gives him -- >> the embrace. >> seth: this has been "a closer look." ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: we'll be right back with tracy morgan, everybody! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> announcer: for more of seth's "closer looks," be sure to subscribe to "late night" on youtube. peppermint mochas for lia. ♪♪ ♪♪

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♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: welcome back, everybody. give it up for the 8g band right over there. [ cheers and applause ] and we've been so lucky this week to have the incredible drummer for four-time grammy winner, lenny kravitz, whose latest album "raise vibration" is out now. for more information on his music and work in chicago communities, check him out on social media as well as franklinvanderbilt.com. franklin vanderbilt, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] thank you for a great, great week. really appreciate it. >> thank you very much. >> seth: our first guest tonight is an emmy nominated actor and comedian you know from "saturday night live," "30 rock," and "the last o.g." he'll be performing at the

beacon theater saturday november 10th as part of the new york comedy festival. please welcome back to the show one of our favorites, our friend tracy morgan, everybody. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: tracy morgan. [ cheers and applause ] tracy. tracy. tracy. always such a joy. >> that was a lot of love, man. >> seth: lot of love. >> i feel like a magical black dude. >> seth: yeah. [ cheers and applause ] >> i feel magical. >> seth: lot of. >> i'm feel like the black dude from "green mile." >> seth: you feel like that? [ laughter ] >> i could just touch a white dude and feel his senses. yeah. >> seth: a healing hand? oh, my gosh. my cold just left. >> cure your syphilis. yeah. >> seth: oh, my god.

[ laughter ] there go the bugs. there go the bugs. you -- you're turning 50 on saturday. >> yeah. i'm 50. yeah. >> seth: happy birthday, man. [ cheers and applause ] >> i'm joining the 5-0 club, dog. how old are you? you young. >> seth: 44. 44. >> you young. >> seth: yeah. >> you got another four more years before you suffer from e.d. >> seth: what? [ laughter ] >> got to start taking them blue pills. >> seth: yeah, yeah. so, you had that happen to you at 48? >> no. >> seth: okay, i got you. [ laughter ] oh, that's your --- that's your analysis of me. >> i'm still making babies. >> seth: oh, yeah. that's right. you got a 5-year-old. >> yeah, she's 5, man. >> seth: and she -- >> yeah. she's 5 going on 50. >> seth: uh-huh. >> i see her teeth -- tooth first -- the first tooth came out. >> seth: she lost a tooth. >> yeah. and i put a dollar under her pillow. >> seth: that's very nice. >> and she's complaining the next morning. >> seth: what? [ light laughter ] >> she said, "my daddy got hit by a walmart truck and this all i get? [ laughter ] where's my birkin bag?" >> seth: she wanted a birkin bag. >> she want a hermes bag. >> seth: what'd she do for halloween? how was your halloween?

>> oh, man. i don't know, man. these kids today, they crazy, man. a kid knocked on my door for candy. right? and he was supposed to be a ghost and his sheet was black. >> seth: uh-huh. [ light laughter ] >> i said, "what you supposed to be?" he said, "i'm a ghost." i said, "why your sheet black?" he said, "i'm keeping it real." [ laughter ] those holidays, man. >> seth: thanksgiving is coming up. you got plans? >> thanksgiving -- thanksgiving coming up. yeah, we plan -- i plan on eating. >> seth: okay, that's good. [ laughter ] >> that's it. >> seth: that's it. >> that's all i'm gonna do, eat. i'm not saying grace this year. last year my grandmother slipped up and let my uncle say grace. >> seth: okay. >> he just did 25 years in prison. >> seth: okay. >> so, he said grace like he was still in prison. >> seth: got it. >> institutionalized. >> seth: what does grace in prison sound like? >> he just said, "who's that dude over there?" i said, "that's my uncle. your brother. you don't cut meat with a shank. [ laughter ] take the razor blade out your mouth." [ light laughter ] >> seth: what -- >> christmas. >> seth: what do you for christmas?

>> i don't lie to my kids. okay? that's what i don't do. >> seth: you don't lie? >> no. ain't no fat, jolly white dude bring you nothing. [ laughter ] you know what your mother had to do for you to get that easy bake oven? [ laughter ] you better play with that toy until you're 40. [ laughter ] >> seth: you -- you live in new jersey now. correct? >> yeah, why? >> seth: nice neighborhood? >> am i asking you about it? [ laughter ] >> seth: what? >> the government asking you about it? >> seth: no. >> government always on my ass around tax time. >> seth: how do you -- do you know your neighbors? >> oh, man. i live in a very affluent neighborhood. >> seth: okay. >> yeah. i live in alpine, new jersey. my neighbor -- one of my neighbors is the ceo of pepsi. >> seth: wow. >> ceo of pepsi. when we moved in, she came over with a gift basket. i was like, "oh, wow. this is beautiful. thank you for welcoming me and my family into your neighborhood." and she was warm and kind, and i let her know it would be an honor for me to one day get hit by one of your trucks. >> seth: wow, that's -- [ laughter ] >> i did.

i did. [ applause ] i did. be an honor. it would be an honor. [ laughter ] >> seth: hey, your show "the last o.g." coming back for a second season. a fantastic show. congratulations. >> i love the work we did. thank you. that's ripped right from my life. >> seth: yeah. [ cheers and applause ] >> ripped right from my life. >> seth: season two spends a lot of time dealing with gentrification. >> yeah. >> seth: is that something that you remember happening in your neighborhood? >> nah. when i was coming up in the neighborhood, that wasn't happening. >> seth: okay. >> you know? it's different now. white people moving in. we moving out. the other day i was in harlem and i seen a white family going down the street pushing a stroller whistling. i'm black and i was scared to death to grow up there. [ laughter ] and plus i don't even know how to whistle. [ laughter ] black people, we just ain't happy enough to whistle. we've ain't never been happy enough. to whistle. >> seth: you -- you're married, obviously. you have a beautiful wife. >> uh-huh. >> seth: your wife --

>> my wife is a dime. >> seth: yeah. >> you see, you go on instagram, you see my wife is beautiful. she biracial. >> seth: your wife is biracial. >> yeah. she's a dime. she ain't a nickel and five pennies. >> seth: uh-huh. >> she ain't ten pennies. she's a dime. >> seth: gotcha. >> biracial. oh, man. you know my first words when i met her? >> seth: what was that? >> you're going to get pregnant. >> seth: oh, yeah. [ laughter ] now -- >> you're going it to get pregnant. >> seth: now -- >> i tell you the truth, man. you know --- you know me, man. i'm old school. i don't pull out. [ laughter ] >> seth: i -- >> i'm old school, b. i'm like prison. when i come in, i come in. [ laughter ] i don't believe it when --- no, no. i don't believe in when -- i don't believe in wearing no condoms on the first date. [ laughter ] if you ain't willing to die for it, you let them want it. [ laughter ] my wife is half white and half black. so, before we make love, i take a knee. now, just to let the white side of them know black lives matter. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ]

black lives matter. [ laughter ] play no games. that's my baby girl. i love my wife. i love you, megan. >> seth: that's very sweet. [ laughter ] you -- this is interesting. you just went on ancestry.com. you tried to dig into your past a little bit. >> yeah -- 'cause the accident scared me. >> seth: after your accident, sure. >> but before i leave, i want to know who i am. so, i went on the ancestry.com. you know, and the results came back. you know, the results like the chart says, like, 20% native american. >> seth: mm-hmm. >> 20% african-american. 10% irish. my whole chart just said dude from brooklyn. >> seth: oh, wow. [ laughter ] >> that's where i'm from. i don't know about africa. i come from brooklyn, man. very -- do or die, take the girl, kill the guy. [ laughter ] >> seth: that was your readout. that was your readout at ancestry.com. >> that's what it said. >> seth: you're getting the key to the borough. you're getting the key to brooklyn.

>> i'm getting the key to brooklyn tomorrow, y'all. [ cheers and applause ] brooklyn is in the house. brooklyn is in the house. everybody know that brooklyn in the house. [ cheers and applause ] everybody know, brooklyn. everybody, you can go to russia and they know brooklyn. if you say the word, brooklyn, in russia, they get scared. [ laughter ] >> seth: what is -- are you excited? what is the ceremony gonna be like? do you know -- do you have expectations? >> i don't know. they're going to give me the key of probably the projects or something. i don't know. [ laughter ] i remember -- because i know brooklyn, man. i remember when i came out the coma, all my friends from brooklyn called. >> seth: uh-huh. >> so, eddie murphy call. chris rob called. jay-z called. mike tyson called. >> seth: mike tyson called? >> yeah. mike called. mike said, "tracy?" [ laughter ] i said, "who this?" "it's me, mike tyson. when you come home from the hospital, we're going to get matching face tattoos and fly pigeons." [ laughter ] i said, "no we not. i don't need your crazy rubbing off on me. [ laughter ] i'm already crazy. my head is already messed up." >> seth: oh.

>> see g, let me tell you something, man. walmart think they done paying me. okay? they think they done. >> seth: uh-huh. i'm sure -- >> we'll see. [ laughter ] i don't know the long time -- i long term -- the long term? >> seth: yeah. >> the long term -- >> seth: the long-term effects. >> you see? that's $500,000 right there. >> seth: really? [ laughter ] >> i don't know what the long-term effects of this brain damage was. >> seth: yeah. >> if i started acting messed up in ten years, they're gonna hear from my attorney. >> seth: right. >> "tracy morgan just tried to make love to his french bulldog. we want $5 million. [ laughter ] and the dog want $2 million for pain and suffering." [ laughter ] you know what's so messed up? when i settled to them, my brother works for walmart. >> seth: uh-huh. and my settlement starts coming out of his check. >> seth: oh, wow. >> they start taking it out of his check. [ light laughter ] he called me. he said, "yo, man. try work 60 hours, all i got was 67 cents and 34.5 cent." i said, "you have to talk to the dude that hit me." [ light laughter ]

you tell me, i don't know nothing about that. i got nothing to do with it. >> seth: you -- you're about to do a show at the beacon for the comedy festival. >> am i? >> seth: yeah. >> i am? >> seth: yeah. >> well, i got to get something to wear. >> seth: yeah. do you -- do you feel like you talk about politics, or you try to ignore all that? >> i stay out of politics. >> seth: yeah. >> politics is a pile of tricks. look at kanye. >> seth: yeah. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> stay away from that. you see when he was talking to the president? the president looked at him like, "you crazy, mother --" [ laughter ] you going to get a -- what do they call that? a maga hat? >> seth: a maga hat, yeah. >> a maga hat. >> seth: he wore it on "snl." >> and he gonna move back to chicago. oh, he want to get shot. [ laughter ] somebody going to gladly put that man out of his misery. [ laughter ] huh-uh. i'll stay away from that. i don't even mess with media -- social media. >> seth: yeah, social media. >> no man 'cause, you know, there's always somebody going

back eight years to dig up some stuff you said, you don't feel like that now. >> seth: right. >> i don't need a thousand strangers calling me on my stuff. that's what i got married for. >> seth: right. yeah. [ laughter ] >> only my wife call me on my junk. >> seth: i feel like, you know, people don't have to go back eight years, either, tracy. they can just -- >> they do, anyway. >> seth: they can just watch this. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: tracy. i'm so happy to have you here. we are all so happy to have you back with us, my man. >> thank you. >> seth: it is just the best. >> you know seth? you know i love you. >> seth: i love you, too. >> when we was at "snl," you know, when you came on, i was already on there. you my dude. >> seth: yeah. you took care of me. >> you always be my dude. >> seth: you took care of me from the beginning. >> mess with him in his office at 3:00 in the morning, make him laugh. >> seth: yeah. >> just cause i loved his laughter. it's infectious. i love you. >> seth: thank you. i love you too, buddy. [ cheers and applause ] that's tracy morgan, everybody. we'll be right back with david remnick. [ cheers and applause ] ♪

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and save $1000 off your complete bathroom remodel ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: our next guest is a pulitzer prize winning author, editor of "the new yorker" and host of "the new yorker radio hour." "the new yorker encyclopedia of cartoons," showcasing work from nearly ten decades is on stands now. please welcome back to the show our friend, david remnick, everybody. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: welcome back. >> how do i top tracy morgan? >> seth: it's very -- yeah. >> can't do it. >> seth: i will say this is one of the joys of having a talk show is when you can have an evening of very diverse guests. >> tracy morgan. >> seth: and for me, tracy morgan and david remnick is my dream show. [ laughter ]

>> i sat -- you know, we invited him, "the new yorker" invited him to the white house correspondents' dinner years ago. and he was my guest. we sat next to each other and from 100 yards away, he waved at obama and obama looked right at him, went like this. and they had -- they went up, they had a conversation and tracy morgan loved him. obama loved him back. it was great. >> seth: that's great. i can only imagine what a fantastic thing that would be to see. [ cheers and applause ] so you wrote a couple weeks ago about how this election would be a referendum on trump. >> yeah. >> seth: you wrote afterwards that this wasn't quite a blue wave, but that it will have repercussions for trump moving forward. what is -- a couple more days have passed and more seats that we thought have gone to democrats in the last couple of days. >> yeah. >> seth: i think since you first wrote that. >> right. >> seth: does it feel more like a wave now? and how do you think trump is feeling? >> trump, like blue crush, it's not like one of those huge tidal waves. >> seth: yeah. it's like a hudson river lapping. >> yeah. [ light laughter ] right up against, you know, the 79th street pier or something like that. but the big thing that happened is the house of representatives goes to the democrats.

and that causes the chairman and the chairpeople of all the committees to be democrats as opposed to republicans and when they were republicans, somebody like devin nunes was acting less as an investigator of the president and his committee as the president's personal attorney. >> seth: yes. >> which was a problem. >> seth: it was a problem, sure. >> and so now you have all this investigated heat likely to come down on the president which will, let's face it, it's going to cause a real storm. because even on a good day, even on his best day -- [ laughter ] the president is capable of behavior, well, like what you were showing on the film. >> seth: yes. and this -- >> and now that he's going to be quite possibly in a corner, whether it's possibly his son might get indicted thanks to robert mueller, or something might happen to him or they'll look into his finances, he's apoplectic about this. so within 8 1/2 seconds, 8 1/2 -- maybe 8 3/4 seconds

after the election, what you had was the president giving a press conference that was unhinged. and he fired the attorney general, as expected, but replaced him with a guy that is just going to do his bidding. so this is a recipe for disaster. >> seth: i know you're not in the prediction game, but what do you think is going to happen with mueller going forward? do you think -- because there was this theory out there that mueller was, you know, established courtesies laying off doing anything in the run-up to the election. now that the election is over, do you think we're going to see a deluge of stuff from him? >> i don't know what the deluge is going to be, but there's obviously going to be some action. one thing you can say about robert mueller even though he's kept his counsel so tightly, he's not an idiot. >> seth: yeah. >> and so he knows that the attorney general is going to get fired. he knows the attorney general is not going to be replaced by, you know, justice brandeis or something -- you know something

right-thinking and just. i think he could have predicted this outcome. so i think you can expect some action out of his office and i think he was holding it pretty tight close to his chest. and it's going to be a big drama. and i think it's going to be a drama on the level of its kind like i experienced as, you know, as a kid, watergate. >> seth: yeah. >> in some form or another. and it's -- one thing you can be sure of, seth, and this is a great tragedy here. to be very serious about it. is that we face enormous problems in this country. we face, you know, a climate change problem that we can't even get our heads around and we're going to do nothing about it. for the next year. and then we're going to be in the -- if it gets this far, we're going to be in a presidential campaign and do nothing for another year and it's not just climate change, it happens -- has to do with all kinds of criminal justice issues. has to do with all the things we face. nothing's going to get done unless the democrats at least make an issue out of it because

nothing's going to come out of the president's office. >> seth: i want to ask about this. you mentioned the democrats. it did seem they were more successful in this election because they didn't make it as much as about trump. they tried to stick with issues, they tried to talk about health care. >> that's right. >> seth: do you think now they might fall into a trap because they have this little bit of power? >> it's a problem. >> seth: yeah. >> i mean, it's a tough choice. and a lot of people in congress, leadership certainly, are very wary, for example, of impeachment because they remember in 1998, of course, republicans impeached bill clinton and bill clinton's popularity shot through the roof. that's a problem. so, you know, what can actually help donald trump be re-elected? making his base more hardened in their hatred of the press, of the congress, nancy pelosi as a signal. >> seth: it seems like they don't have a lot of road left to hate it more than they already do. >> it's a problem. yeah.

>> seth: but -- >> yeah. [ light laughter ] >> seth: your magazine has done so much great reporting in the last few years. reporting that maybe you weren't quite as known for as far as breaking stories now. >> we don't pretend to be a newspaper. >> seth: uh-huh. >> but we do do investigative reporting, so, you know, you've seen, for example, today we learned that eric schneiderman, the attorney general, state of new york, is not going to be criminally indicted, but he fessed up to his very serious sins about his sexual behavior. that story was written by jane mayer and ronan farrow. so on the me too issue, for example, "the new yorker" has been very strong. and jane mayer and many others have been writing about the presidency and all the drama that goes with it with great depth. i'm very proud of that. look, i think it's a civic duty. it's a civic duty for journalists who have this thing called the 1st amendment to use it and not be intimidated by name calling and it's very serious. to be called enemies of the people, which is what stalin

used to call his enemies. it's no fun. and you're always one indictment away from trouble and that behavior, you know, toward the cnn reporter, acosta, jim acosta, the other day in the press conference, was disgusting. that's the kind of behavior you expect from autocrats somewhere else. >> seth: uh-huh. >> now that's -- that's here. >> seth: in this very turbulent time, i do find, i take solace in the fact that "the new yorker" still finds space for cartoons. >> look how much -- >> seth: this is -- this is no small amount of cartoons. >> seth. >> seth: are you -- [ cheers and applause ] >> try to lift it up in the air. >> seth: it's not -- it's the heaviest holdup i've ever had on the show. >> can you do a curl with it? >> seth: the new attorney general can curl it. >> yeah. >> seth: so -- [ light laughter ] >> he can bench press it. >> seth: he can bench press. yeah. so tell me, why do you think it's endured as a part of "the new yorker" and are you surprised that over a century it's endured, is a thing that still lives in this magazine

that has, obviously is so highbrow? >> well, you know, that's -- that's the weird chemistry of what this is. you know, you're reading a long piece about politics or about science or about medicine. though something may be serious. and then weirdly all throughout it are these little jokes. these hand grenades of humor that go off. i think if it got invented today, this idea, people would be -- would take offense. there would be, like, a twitterstorm, oh, my god, there's a piece about the war in yemen and there are gag cartoons about two talking dogs. >> seth: yeah. >> while all the other cartoons we're about to see in a few minutes here. >> seth: and we are going to see them again. and thanks so much. this is your seventh time on the show and the seventh time that we'll be doing live "new yorker" cartoons. we will be right back with david remnick, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] ♪

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♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: welcome back, everybody. i'm here once again with the editor of "the new yorker," david remnick, everybody. [ cheers and applause ]

david, as we were saying, one of the most popular features in "the new yorker" are the cartoons and you ultimately pick which ones are in each issue, correct? >> that is correct. >> seth: and in what has become a tradition here on "late night," every time you appear on the show, we present "live new yorker cartoons." >> and i, acting as your cartoon niels bohr, break down the mathematical properties of each cartoon that caused one's mouth to expand and emit a ha-like sound. >> seth: i'm sorry, what does that mean? >> well, i explain why it's funny. [ laughter ] >> seth: okay great. well then let's get to it, everybody. without further ado, our theater troupe in residence, the "late night" players, are happy to debut their newest piece, "live new yorker cartoons part vii: raiders of the lost snark." [ cheers and applause ] let's take a look at our first cartoon. this one by liam walsh. >> it keeps me from looking at my phone every two seconds.

[ cheers and applause ] >> seth: wow. david, you care to explain that cartoon to us? >> absolutely, seth. the man in this cartoon is wearing a cone around his head to prevent him from checking his cell phone. much like a dog wears a cone around his head to prevent him himself from licking his surgically removed testicles. [ laughter ] >> seth: i see, i see. yes. >> this cartoon effectively explores our addiction to technology, but most importantly, it allows me to do one thing i've always wanted to do. >> seth: and what's that, david? >> say the word, "testicles," on national television. >> seth: well, we're so very, very happy for you. congratulations. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. >> seth: our next cartoon is by liana finck. >> it's not you, adam. it's men. [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: david, what did we just see there?

>> seth, are you familiar with the common breakup expression, it's not you, it's me? >> seth: i am. >> well, by simply adding the letter, "n" -- n to the end of that phrase, we now have a piece of social commentary that delivers a profoundly and brilliantly nuanced message. >> seth: which is what? >> that men are absolutely the [ bleep ] worst. >> seth: ah yes, understood. [ cheers and applause ] understood. i get it now. our next cartoon is by jon adams. [ laughter ] >> let me just charge it for ten more seconds. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: all right. david, talk us through that one. >> yeah, seth, i could go on and on about how this cartoon is rooted in our shared experience of wanting to charge our devices up to the very last minute. even if it means being burned alive in a house fire. but that's not why i ultimately chose this cartoon. no. >> seth: why did you choose it? >> there's just something very

funny about a man wearing tighty-whities and calf-length socks. >> seth: that's very -- [ light laughter ] very true. david, our next cartoon is by zachary kanin. >> memoir, chapter one. at times i think i may have never fully gotten over the death of my parents. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> seth: david? >> seth, are you a batman guy or a superman guy? >> seth: well, it's interesting, david. because in terms of origin story, the character's emotional journey, not to mention his epic battles with villains like sinestro and the black hand, i would have to go with the green lantern. >> god, what a dork. >> seth: a dork? me? all right. is there anything you'd like to say about our final cartoon? >> no. >> seth: okay. >> seth, i'd like to address your teenage viewers with a thanksgiving day message. >> seth: oh, our teenage viewers. go. >> gobble, gobble, teens, it's "the new yorker's" head turkey, dr. d-rem.

anyway, i know there's a lot for you kids to be thankful for. being lit, for example. [ light laughter ] nicki minaj's beef with cardi b. [ light laughter ] and most important, long-form literary journalism from "the new yorker" magazine. you know that nothing makes you look cooler between puffs on your e-cigs than reading a 10,000-word dissertation on the extinction of the moderate republicans. so, teens, teens, get a subscription to "the new yorker" magazine today. it'll get you laid. [ laughter ] >> seth: wow. that's -- [ light laughter ] >> it'll get you laid. >> seth: wonderful, wonderful. [ cheers and applause ] all right. our final cartoon is by mick stevens. let's take a look. >> you never think it's going to happen to you. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> seth: the "late night" players, everyone. we will be right back. [ cheers and applause ] ♪

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♪ >> announcer: for more "late night," go to latenightseth.com. follow us on instagram and twitter @latenightseth and be sure to check us out on youtube and facebook. head over to itunes to subscribe to "the late night with seth meyers" podcast. you'll get a closer look and more downloaded right to your phone. ♪

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♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: my thanks to tracy morgan, david remnick, the "late night" players. franklin vanderbilt. of course, the 8g band. stay tuned for carson daly. we will see you tomorrow, everyone. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪