Seth Meyers Asked Simple Questions Because He Knew Kellyanne Conway Had No Answers

Since taking over NBC's late-night slot a bit less than three years ago, Seth Meyers—yes, the "Weekend Update" guy—has gradually eschewed the standard variety-show format in favor of sharper, more incisive political commentary that, if you tilt your head just so, might start to sound like that vintage Daily Show you've been craving for the last year and a half. No, seriously—if 12:35 A.M. is too far past your bedtime, you're missing out on the man staking his claim to the Best Political Commentator on TV title right now.

Meyers' interview skills were put to good use on Tuesday, when he welcomed former Trump campaign manager and soon-to-be counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway to the Late Night soundstage. Although Meyers began by trying to find "common ground," cordially congratulating her on being the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign, they didn't find much more after that. On the subject of Russian hacks, the host set aside the issue of whether they actually changed the election results, instead asking Conway to focus on the implications of the Kremlin's attempt.

MEYERS: Shouldn’t we care that the Russians tried to interfere? I sometimes fear that the president-elect has no curiosity as to the amount they tried—

CONWAY: That is completely false. He has enormous curiosity. I’m there every day with him. He has a number of different meetings every day, briefings and otherwise. And he was curious enough to figure out America. He knew America was—

MEYERS, DELIGHTED: That’s a pivot right there!

It probably says something grim about journalism in 2017 that we applaud an interviewer for calling out an obviously fallacious argument, but still—Meyers' polite insistence on responsiveness succinctly highlighted the fact that Conway had ducked the question altogether, and he needed to say nothing more to make his point. The same dynamic resurfaced during this exchange, where Meyers allowed Conway to arrive at his conclusion at her own pace.

MEYERS: You said the other day on CNN that sometimes the press obsesses with taking the words out of his mouth instead of judging him on what’s in his heart. Isn’t it important to—

CONWAY: Did I say sometimes? I meant all the time.

MEYERS: So you think it’s not important to listen to what he says—

CONWAY: No, I think it’s both, but it never seems to be the latter.

MEYERS: But how can we know what’s in his heart?

CONWAY: He expresses it—

MEYERS: He expresses it how—out of his mouth!

Since Election Day, late-night hosts like The Daily Show's Trevor Noah have been skipping pre-Trump-era condescension in favor of taking their guests seriously, no matter how ideologically extreme or odious their viewpoints may be. However, Noah and company continue to struggle when they allow a good interview to be derailed by their own joking asides, often deployed to defuse tension. What sets Meyers apart is that he never loses his train of thought, allowing the laughs to come from the facial absurdity of what his guests are saying instead. Meyers understands that he doesn't need to tack on a zinger to show that Kellyanne Conway answered a question with a nonsensical word salad. He just needs to make sure she answers the question in the first place.