Late night’s most popular guest this week? COVID-19. Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and James Corden—three of the five prime-time late-night television hosts—all announced recently that they had tested positive for COVID, and made a point to shout out the vaccine for keeping them in relatively good health.
The first host to fall victim to the illness literally sweeping the nation was Fallon, who shared on Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show that he tested positive for COVID-19 over the show’s holiday break last month. Fallon’s two young daughters, Winnie and Frances, tested positive as well, so the family was able to quarantine together over the holiday. “I want to just tell everyone, please, out there—get vaxxed,” Fallon said. “If you can, get vaxxed, get boosted. ’Cause, man, this thing, it’s a banger. It’s a real thing. If I didn’t have that, it just felt like I would be real, real, real, real, real sick.”
Meyers was the next late-night host to publicly announce that he had contracted COVID-19. “The bad news is, I tested positive for COVID (thanks, 2022!) the good news is, I feel fine (thanks vaccines and booster!)” Meyers tweeted Tuesday morning. “We are canceling the rest of the shows this week, so tune in next Monday to see what cool location we will try and pass off as a studio!!!”
The bad news is, I tested positive for COVID (thanks, 2022!) the good news is, I feel fine (thanks vaccines and booster!) We are canceling the rest of the shows this week, so tune in next Monday to see what cool location we will try and pass off as a studio!!!
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) January 4, 2022