Seth MyersSeth Meyers, head writer for NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, said he was pleased with the fresh material provided by President Barack Obama, reports CBC.

“I was here for the eight years of the Bush era,” said Meyers, who joined the cast in 2001 after doing improvisational theatre in Chicago. “While it started fun, it got a little redundant for a lot of comedians. Anything new is great for us. That being said, you need to get to know someone before you can poke fun at them and we’re getting to know Obama more. The trickiest thing with Obama is he has a great sense of humour, he’s so self-aware and he may beat comedians to the punchline.”

The on-air anchor of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update said there can sometimes be a fine line when writing about current events and trying to remain tactful. “I think you have to follow the news and we try very hard never to let a story pass without taking a crack at it. We want our audience to know that no matter what the news is, we’re going to try to make a joke about it. If you watch cable news, I feel like they’re trying harder to be entertaining and I feel like comedy shows are trying harder to be accurate. You definitely want to research your points so your joke doesn’t feel like an attack. Once you make jokes that seem like mean for meanness sake, you lose your authority.”

Meyers became co-head writer of the show with Tina Fey in 2006. He then assumed the position of head writer when Fey left the program.






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