transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] When people are meant for each other, they will always find a way back to each other.

Speaker 2:
[00:04] Your favorite islanders said goodbye Fiji.

Speaker 3:
[00:07] Our lives have all changed, we're all doing great things.

Speaker 4:
[00:09] It's like we've known each other forever.

Speaker 2:
[00:10] And hello, real life.

Speaker 3:
[00:12] Everybody has this bad perception of me overnight.

Speaker 5:
[00:14] Loser, you're such a loser, get out.

Speaker 2:
[00:17] And they're still standing on business.

Speaker 5:
[00:19] There's still a lot of tea that I'm gonna tell you guys.

Speaker 3:
[00:21] I feel like this was gonna be for our month.

Speaker 6:
[00:23] Girl, when is it ever drama free?

Speaker 2:
[00:25] Love Island Beyond the Villa, new episodes Wednesdays, only on Peacock. What they did to your family, you're lucky to make it out alive.

Speaker 6:
[00:35] Streaming on Peacock.

Speaker 7:
[00:37] These men are going to come after me.

Speaker 2:
[00:39] Taking them out is my only chance.

Speaker 6:
[00:41] Put a bullet in your head. From the co-creator of Ozark.

Speaker 8:
[00:45] Looks like a family was running drugs.

Speaker 2:
[00:47] Execution style killing is refugees.

Speaker 6:
[00:49] Any leads on who they might have been running for?

Speaker 2:
[00:51] The cartel killed my family. I'm going to kill them, all of them.

Speaker 6:
[00:56] MIA, streaming May 7th, only on Peacock.

Speaker 9:
[01:03] ♪ President Trump said in a post yesterday on Truth Social that Iran is, quote, collapsing financially. Oh, they are? I had to split an Uber to work today with Fallon and Kelly Clarkson. And I'm the only one they won't let sing in the car.

Speaker 6:
[01:28] From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, please enjoy this podcast edition of Late Night with Seth Meyers. On today's show, Seth talks to actress Aubrey Plaza. But first, A Closer Look.

Speaker 9:
[01:46] Donald Trump's approval rating has hit a new all-time low, as more members of his administration scramble for the exits. For more on this, it's time for A Closer Look. ♪ I am not a numbers guy. Here's a good proof of that. I recently helped my son with his math homework, and it went so badly, they held me back a year. Fourth grade hasn't been terrible. Last week, I grew my own beans. So with my mathematical limitations in mind, help me out here. Are these numbers good or bad?

Speaker 1:
[02:19] Only 33% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing. Well, I feel 67% disapprove, which means he's underwater by 34 points.

Speaker 9:
[02:30] He's in an all-time low, and he's down 5 points from the last month. Trump is having a worse April than the New York Mets. Obviously, what's going on with the Mets begs the question. Was their season officially jinxed when Mr. and Mrs. Met visited our set on opening day? Look, it's not like this show has winner's mojo. We've been nominated for and lost 11 Emmys. 11. To give you an idea how many that is, 11 is one less than the Mets' 12-game losing streak. As of taping, true story, our security guards, John and Jim, seen here forgetting that history repeats itself, think this is happening because the Mets gave cue card Wally a custom Mets jersey with his name on it despite the fact that Wally is a Yankees fan. And to break the curse, they believe they have to burn the jersey, and the craziest part is they only think it will work if they burn it while Wally is wearing it. The point is the wheels have completely fallen off the MAGA wagon. Trump poll numbers are in freefall. Republicans are losing the gerrymandering war they started, but Democrats, MAGA pundits, are publicly turning on the president, and now another cabinet secretary is out.

Speaker 3:
[03:38] US. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez remembers stepping down. The White House says she is taking a job in the private sector, and she was also, it's important to note, facing an internal investigation into possible misconduct and allegations of inappropriate behavior. This makes her now the third cabinet member to leave the Trump administration in recent weeks.

Speaker 9:
[03:54] Wow, it's bad when the labor secretary can't even keep her job. Jobs was her jobs. So now that there's three cabinet officials out in less than two months, the administration has the same turnover as a college town chick-fil-a at the end of a semester. Soon it's just going to be Trump wandering around by himself trying to keep squirrels out of his ballroom. He and JD Vance are going to go full gray gardens. But even more shocking than the labor secretary's abrupt resignation is the investigation that preceded it, which involved alleged misconduct by the secretary and her family.

Speaker 10:
[04:29] Her departure comes amid multiple allegations of misconduct and abuse of power by not just her but her husband and apparently her father as well.

Speaker 11:
[04:39] Ms. Chavez de Remer's husband and father exchanged text messages with young female staff members at the Labor Department. In an April 2025 exchange provided to investigators, Ms. Chavez de Remer's father wrote to a young female Labor Department staff member, quote, Hearing you are in town, wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show you around. Please keep this private.

Speaker 9:
[05:07] You know, part of me thinks, oh, maybe that sweet old man just wants to give a young lady a tour. And then I remember he signed off, please keep this private. No dad is ever supposed to say, please keep this private about anything. You're supposed to say to your dad, please keep that private. You know, when he gives what seems like a college length dissertation on how attractive he finds the actress who plays Beth Dutton on Yellowstone. And then you're like, stop telling me. And he's like, oh, so you don't think she's attractive? And I'm like, I'm just saying you don't have to tell everyone at the Bar Mitzvah. Keep that private. And that's just a hypothetical, not a real thing that recently happened. I just made that up from my imagination, not from my real memory. So three Trump cabinet officials are already out, and a fourth might be on his way.

Speaker 7:
[05:59] FBI Director Kash Patel on defense this morning, denying allegations laid out in a new report detailing his alleged drinking habits and absences from the bureau. This article in The Atlantic cites more than two dozen people, including unnamed current and former FBI officials, who allege excessive drinking and erratic behavior described as, quote, freakouts from Patel. Several officials cited say Patel is known for, quote, obvious intoxication at private clubs, both here in Washington and in Las Vegas, and that many staffers are just waiting for the announcement that Patel is going to be fired from his post, citing his unreachability and impulsivity.

Speaker 9:
[06:35] Generally speaking, you don't want to hear that the country's top law enforcement official is known for having freakouts, you know? When you're the head of the FBI, you're supposed to be calm and level-headed. No one wants to tune into a press conference about a potential threat to the homeland and hear a guy who looks like this and says, Scream, everyone, run for your lives. And he always looks like that. He has resting, run-for-your-lives face. But the allegations about Patel... The allegations get even worse than that.

Speaker 4:
[07:08] The article also claimed, a request for breaching equipment normally used by SWAT and hostage rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors.

Speaker 9:
[07:21] All right, in fairness, we've all been there. You know, you come home from a hard day at work drinking margaritas with Dua Lipa, and you pass out on the floor in the kids' playroom, and your wife tries to open the door, but you locked it because you didn't want anyone to see you puking in your daughter's Easy Bake Oven. So your wife has to call the super to break the door down, and he's a big Russian guy with a thick accent. And when he enters the room, you wake up, and you're so scared that you get what's known as cash eyes. But somehow, that's not the most embarrassing episode from the story.

Speaker 5:
[07:55] On Friday, April 10th, as FBI Director Kash Patel was preparing to leave work for the weekend, he struggled to log on to an internal computer system. He quickly became convinced he'd been locked out and he panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he'd been fired by the White House. That's according to nine people familiar with his outreach. Two of these people described his behavior as a, quote, freak out.

Speaker 1:
[08:18] The access problem turned out to, quote, have been a technical error and it was quickly resolved.

Speaker 9:
[08:23] So he freaked out and told everyone he was fired, but it turned out it was just a technical glitch. In fact, one FBI official said to Patel's freak out, quote, it was all ultimately bull. And I'm the one thing that would make a great title for the first history textbook about the Trump era. But Patel Patel has pushed back. Patel has pushed back on the claims by suing the Atlantic and denying the story at a press conference.

Speaker 8:
[08:48] Explain the computer login issue. Just explain the computer login issue. You were not able to log in to the, your lawsuit contends that you were not able to log in to the system. What did you think after you were unable to log in to the system?

Speaker 12:
[09:00] Let's have a survey. How many of you people believe that's true?

Speaker 9:
[09:03] I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do. I mean, I don't know for sure if it's true, but I definitely believe it's possible. I mean, we saw you crushing beers in the locker room after the men's Olympic hockey team won gold. That definitely looks like a guy who might not remember his password the next day. I can definitely imagine you sitting down at your computer drunkenly crying because you can't log in. Why won't the beach ball stop spinning? But maybe the saddest moment of Patel's press conference was when he explained his drinking in the locker room by describing the US men's hockey team as his friends.

Speaker 12:
[09:36] I'm like an everyday American who loves his country, loves to sport a hockey and champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate.

Speaker 9:
[09:43] Oh, sweetie, no. No, sweetie. Friends? No, sweetie. I'm going to say to you what I said to John and Jim about Mr. and Mrs. Matt. They're not your friends. When Trump won the election, MAGA acted as though they were invincible, but the last month has proven otherwise. Trump is at all time lows and keeps losing election after election while his top aides quit or get fired. Next time a poll comes out showing how much voters dislike him, Trump's going to tell Fox News, Please keep this private. This has been A Closer Look. Here's our guest tonight is an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actress you know from her work in Parks and Recreation, The White Lotus and Agatha all along. She's the co-creator and star of the new animated series Kevin, which is streaming now on Prime Video. Please welcome back to the show our very good friend Aubrey Plaza, everybody! It has been too long since I have seen you, my friend.

Speaker 13:
[10:57] I know, did you miss me?

Speaker 9:
[10:58] I missed you. And is it safe to assume, my dear friend Aubrey, that you were with child?

Speaker 13:
[11:06] How dare you ask a woman that?

Speaker 9:
[11:10] Oh, no, did I, have I jumped the gun?

Speaker 13:
[11:14] No, you're right, there's something inside.

Speaker 9:
[11:17] There's something inside you?

Speaker 13:
[11:18] Yes.

Speaker 9:
[11:20] Hoping baby, hoping baby. It's a baby. Okay, that's very exciting. We're very happy to... What's that? Do you want me to pull it out?

Speaker 13:
[11:29] That's why I came here tonight.

Speaker 9:
[11:31] Oh, I would rather not do that.

Speaker 13:
[11:33] Either you or Henry Winkler. Those are my top two.

Speaker 9:
[11:36] I mean, I would choose Henry, wouldn't you?

Speaker 13:
[11:39] He delivered my baby on Parks and Rec, so...

Speaker 9:
[11:41] That's true.

Speaker 13:
[11:42] That's all I know.

Speaker 9:
[11:43] He's had a dress rehearsal. It's very rare to get a dress rehearsal with someone. It's so wonderful to see you. I'm so happy to have you back on the show. Congratulations on Kevin.

Speaker 13:
[11:52] Thank you.

Speaker 9:
[11:52] This is based... This is actually... This is based on a real-life situation, and you co-created this with an ex-boyfriend of, like, 20 years ago.

Speaker 13:
[12:05] Yes, I did. It is based on our actual cat, Kevin. We had a cat called Kevin. He looked like Kevin, the cat, on television. And, yeah, the show is based on our breakup. We were a couple almost 20 years ago. We lived in Queens in Astoria, and we actually had two cats. Thank you. We had two cats, Kevin and Howard, brother cats. And, yes, the show is based on the premise of, you know, a couple breaking up and telling their cat, and the cat ends up breaking up with them.

Speaker 9:
[12:41] Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 13:
[12:42] Because-

Speaker 9:
[12:43] Goes on his own.

Speaker 10:
[12:44] Exactly.

Speaker 13:
[12:44] Animals and humans in the show, they can negotiate these things.

Speaker 9:
[12:48] What were Kevin and Howard like when you adopted these cats 20-odd years ago? Were they good cats?

Speaker 13:
[12:54] They, well, yeah, we, they were very little.

Speaker 10:
[13:00] They were too small.

Speaker 13:
[13:01] We found out they were too little to be adopted.

Speaker 9:
[13:04] Where did you get them? Where do you get cats that are too, so this was not an official place?

Speaker 13:
[13:08] It was a little bit shady. I can't remember exactly. It was probably like a Craigslist thing.

Speaker 9:
[13:15] Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 13:
[13:16] I remember we drove out to Howard Beach and adopted them from like a mob family.

Speaker 9:
[13:20] Right.

Speaker 13:
[13:21] And it was really scary, but we got the kittens in the car and drove away.

Speaker 9:
[13:25] It seems like, you know, of the sort of rackets you hear about the Mafia being involved with.

Speaker 1:
[13:30] I know.

Speaker 9:
[13:31] You rarely hear kittens.

Speaker 13:
[13:33] No, they try to get rid of as many kittens as they can.

Speaker 9:
[13:36] Do you think the kittens knew too much, the kittens saw you?

Speaker 1:
[13:40] Yeah.

Speaker 13:
[13:41] Yeah. So then we brought them home and we didn't, you know, we had never had kittens before and we didn't realize they were too little until they started sucking on each other's butt holes. Oh, wow.

Speaker 9:
[13:52] And why is that a giveaway that they're too little?

Speaker 13:
[13:54] Well, Seth, I'm glad you asked that. We called the vet and they said, oh, they're so little, they're looking for milk and they don't know where to get it. So they started sucking on each other's butt holes. And they were trying to just find a little bit of milk. Yeah.

Speaker 9:
[14:12] Little butt milk to make it through the day.

Speaker 13:
[14:14] Yeah, just a little anus milk. And then so we started feeding them like little droppers. We learned how to give them our milk.

Speaker 9:
[14:20] You see each other yourself. Yeah.

Speaker 13:
[14:21] My milk.

Speaker 9:
[14:22] Yeah. That's nice that you guys stepped in instead of like, well, they're going to have to learn on their own.

Speaker 13:
[14:26] Yes. But that actually made it onto the show. So if you watch Kevin, the cartoon show, you will see Kevin. But in the show, Kevin goes to his therapist because he has a butthole issues. Because his butthole is weird. Because if you suck on a butthole too hard, part of it can come out.

Speaker 9:
[14:43] Really?

Speaker 13:
[14:43] And you know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 9:
[14:47] You are, you play a human. Jason Schwartzman is Kevin. Yes. The great Jason Schwartzman.

Speaker 13:
[14:53] The best.

Speaker 9:
[14:54] You have a lot of other wonderful cast members. John Waters.

Speaker 13:
[14:57] John Waters.

Speaker 9:
[14:58] That's amazing. How, are you friendly with John Waters?

Speaker 13:
[15:04] I am. I love John. In fact, it's his birthday.

Speaker 9:
[15:07] Oh, happy birthday to John Waters.

Speaker 13:
[15:09] I think.

Speaker 9:
[15:11] Close enough. We'll celebrate.

Speaker 13:
[15:12] Birthday tonight or tomorrow night. But yeah, we became friends. I asked him to do a hosting bit on the Independent Spirit Awards with me. And then a long time ago before the pandemic, and then we just became friends and we've been trying to make this movie together and nobody will give us money for it. So weird, but we will make that movie, John. I promise you that.

Speaker 9:
[15:34] What does John play in the show?

Speaker 13:
[15:36] John plays a orange Persian cat called Armando, who's kind of like the older cat. He's kind of like a queen from Queens.

Speaker 9:
[15:46] God, yeah.

Speaker 13:
[15:49] He's like over humans. He hates humans. And he's kind of like a failed Broadway director. He ends up directing a theater troupe full of horses that are doing a production of Maim. And we did get the rights to Maim for the show. So you will see an actual production.

Speaker 9:
[16:07] Wait, you actually, for the television show, Kevin got the rights to Maim.

Speaker 13:
[16:10] Yes, that was very hard.

Speaker 9:
[16:13] Did you have to be honest about how you were going to use it?

Speaker 13:
[16:15] Oh, yes, we had to tell them, no, it's horses performing Maim. But we got it. We got them there.

Speaker 9:
[16:22] That's incredible. You did something. I was very, I've never heard of anybody going to see this live, but you went to the WNBA draft, which happened last week.

Speaker 13:
[16:33] I did.

Speaker 9:
[16:33] And I will say, like, I saw photos, I watched videos. Like, I love watching people sort of elevate from, like, their amateur to the professional ranks. I find it very touching. You were a fan of the WNBA. Was this something? Have you been to a draft before?

Speaker 13:
[16:51] It was actually my second time.

Speaker 9:
[16:53] Wow.

Speaker 13:
[16:53] Yeah, I like going to the draft. Wow. It was, yeah, it was really fun. My sister, Natalie and her wife, Zoe, and I planned to go. And then I was I had dinner with and Sue Bird, who's a fantastic legend. Legend. And I was I had dinner with Sandra Bernhard randomly the weekend before. And I didn't even know she was a fan of the women's basketball. And she was like, honey, I love college basketball.

Speaker 2:
[17:19] You gotta get me to that draft.

Speaker 13:
[17:21] She's like, honey, come on. And I was like, OK. So she basically forced her way in there. Yeah. And then we all went and we yeah, we rolled pretty deep.

Speaker 9:
[17:32] That's fantastic. Here's here's your crew. There's Sue Sandra. That's yourself.

Speaker 13:
[17:37] And then that's my sister. That's Zoe, her wife. That's me. That's Sandy and Sue Bird.

Speaker 9:
[17:42] And so what is your like, what is the best way to like watch the draft? Are you just like celebrating the moments everybody has?

Speaker 13:
[17:48] Yeah. I mean, we all had our own agendas. Like Sandra wanted to like tackle Dawn Staley. And we had to hold her back like out of love. Right. Dawn Staley. She was like, you know, foaming at the mouth trying to get to Dawn. And so we all have, you know, we geek out on this stuff because we're so, you know, we're such big fans of of the women that play. And I think for me, the most fun part is just watching the families at the draft. Of course, because they're so I mean, it's so exciting for the for those women that that get picked. And they're all. Yeah. And they're all. It's just it's a very joyful and and this year more than ever because the women, they just signed a new contract.

Speaker 9:
[18:27] They're going to make some money with the league.

Speaker 13:
[18:28] Yeah, they got a really good time for the W.

Speaker 9:
[18:36] You play basketball growing up.

Speaker 13:
[18:37] I do.

Speaker 9:
[18:38] Your sister played basketball growing up.

Speaker 13:
[18:39] Yeah.

Speaker 9:
[18:40] Who is the better basketball player?

Speaker 13:
[18:42] Me.

Speaker 12:
[18:42] Okay, great.

Speaker 13:
[18:44] Are you older or younger? I'm not actually. Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 9:
[18:46] Were you a competitive? Are you this sort of like when you're out there, do you have like a win at all cost mentality?

Speaker 13:
[18:52] Yeah, I'm a really big like talker on the court.

Speaker 9:
[18:55] Got it.

Speaker 13:
[18:56] So I would just drive people crazy with my mental game.

Speaker 9:
[18:58] Uh huh.

Speaker 13:
[19:00] Just kind of psychologically try to freak them out. And it would really bother them. Yeah.

Speaker 9:
[19:05] I believe you're very good at that.

Speaker 13:
[19:07] Yeah. Because if you talk a lot while you're playing, it's distracting.

Speaker 9:
[19:10] Yeah.

Speaker 13:
[19:12] Especially when I'm in their face.

Speaker 9:
[19:13] Did it come naturally to you? Like to be like sort of a psychological marker? Like a talking, psychological, yeah.

Speaker 13:
[19:19] Yeah. Right out of the thing.

Speaker 9:
[19:21] You'll be able to tell right away with this one. They talk. I could tell you as a parent, they start talking immediately.

Speaker 13:
[19:27] Oh, God. Yeah.

Speaker 9:
[19:28] I don't know.

Speaker 13:
[19:28] Yep.

Speaker 9:
[19:30] You also, this is a tie-in to Kevin as well. You brought your co-star at Nagathon All Along, Patti LuPone, your one-time roommate.

Speaker 13:
[19:38] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 9:
[19:38] You brought her to a WNBA game.

Speaker 13:
[19:40] Oh, yeah. Patti.

Speaker 9:
[19:41] And had Patti ever been to a WNBA game?

Speaker 13:
[19:44] No.

Speaker 9:
[19:47] No. What was her take? Did she enjoy herself?

Speaker 13:
[19:50] Oh, she loved it. Can you tell? It's her birthday, too, by the way.

Speaker 9:
[19:56] You're just making it up.

Speaker 6:
[19:57] I swear to God.

Speaker 13:
[19:59] I swear to God.

Speaker 9:
[20:00] Really?

Speaker 13:
[20:00] I swear.

Speaker 9:
[20:02] And then Patti is also in Kevin.

Speaker 13:
[20:06] Yes, Patti LuPone plays a pony called Patti LuPoni.

Speaker 9:
[20:11] Is she in Mame?

Speaker 1:
[20:12] She stars in Mame.

Speaker 7:
[20:14] She's not in Mame.

Speaker 13:
[20:15] She's the star of Mame, obviously.

Speaker 9:
[20:18] That's a wonderful tie-in.

Speaker 13:
[20:19] As a pony.

Speaker 9:
[20:20] Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 13:
[20:21] You have to watch this.

Speaker 9:
[20:22] Are you so excited when you realize that you could get Patti LuPone to play Patti LuPoni?

Speaker 13:
[20:26] Patti LuPoni will do whatever I want her to do.

Speaker 9:
[20:30] But did you call her? I mean, was that a fun phone call to make? Did you text her or call her?

Speaker 13:
[20:38] I don't know. I think I'm pretty sure I called her and I just said, hey, Patti, I'm going to need you to voice a pony on my cartoon. And she went, okay, doll, just tell me where to go. I'm like, where and when, doll? Call my agent. I'll be there. She doesn't, she's a work, she's a work horse.

Speaker 9:
[20:54] The greatest gift I feel like you can give her is to call her with work.

Speaker 13:
[20:57] She wants it.

Speaker 9:
[20:58] She wants to work. God love her.

Speaker 13:
[20:59] She does.

Speaker 9:
[21:00] Thanks for being here. Congrats on the show. Congrats on everything else. Thank you.

Speaker 6:
[21:10] Late Night with Seth Meyers airs weeknights on NBC at 12.35, 11.35 Central. Original music on the Late Night Podcast is by the HE. Band. Don't forget to follow the handle Late Night Seth on social media, and tell your friends to subscribe to the Late Night Podcast wherever they get their podcasts.