Seth Meyers Got Booed for Charity. John Oliver Got Pity From Mr. Methane.

Seth Meyers brought a familiar news-desk character to a Hurricane Sandy benefit and got told to leave. John Oliver tried doing stand-up between Mr. Methane and professional regurgitator Stevie Starr, then spent roughly 20 minutes bombing. The two hosts compared those nights on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 1. Their stories begin around 7:49 in the official interview above.

Chris Rock saw Meyers’ disaster coming

Meyers was backstage at Madison Square Garden in his Weekend Update suit. Beside him stood Bobby Moynihan as Drunk Uncle. The plan was for Meyers to interview Moynihan in character, but Chris Rock took one look at the pair and questioned whether they were really going to perform sketches for that crowd.

Rock’s concern proved well placed. The audience did not simply stay quiet. Meyers remembered people telling him to go away while he was volunteering his time:

“People were genuinely like, ‘Get out of here!’”

— Seth Meyers

Meyers’ protest was that they were doing it for charity. That detail makes the recollection worse in a very specific way: he was not describing a bad night at a comedy club where he could write off the audience and move on. He had turned up to help, in the same outfit viewers knew from television, and the room still wanted something else.

Drunk Uncle was Moynihan, not Meyers

Moynihan played Drunk Uncle; Meyers was the anchor interviewing him. The two roles are easy to confuse when the story is told quickly, but the difference explains why Rock recognized the problem before they walked onstage. The act depended on a character conversation, not a conventional stand-up set.

That news-desk format gives a sketch a clear starting point on television. The anchor stays relatively composed while the guest supplies the outburst or digression. An audience already knows where the desk belongs in the show. At a large benefit with musicians and stand-up comedians, the same pair must win people over before that familiar setup can do much for them.

Meyers described a bill filled with major performers, including The Who. Madison Square Garden’s contemporary announcements for its Sandy relief concert show the scale of the night: Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel and The Who were among the announced acts. The organizers said proceeds would support people affected by the storm through the Robin Hood Relief Fund. It was a major relief effort, not a regular comedy showcase.

That context helps explain Rock’s reaction without requiring anyone to believe he could predict the exact heckle. A successful television character still has to fit the room. Meyers arrived ready to do the bit he had been asked to do; Rock saw a crowd that might not want a pause for sketches.

Oliver had an even stranger lineup

Oliver’s story took place at the University of East Anglia in England. Mr. Methane went first, performing the national anthem through flatulence. Stevie Starr followed Oliver, swallowing objects and bringing them back up. Oliver was the middle act, trying to tell jokes between two performers whose routines offered a very different kind of spectacle.

He described bombing for about 20 minutes. The embarrassment continued backstage, where the two other acts had a reaction he remembered just as clearly as the unsuccessful set:

“They looked at me with pity.”

— John Oliver

For Meyers, the humiliation was a crowd actively telling him to leave. For Oliver, it was failing in a lineup he already knew would be difficult, then finding sympathy from the performers on either side of him. The first story has Chris Rock anticipating trouble; the second has Oliver seeing trouble himself and having to walk out anyway.

Neither memory is vague. Meyers recalls his suit, Moynihan’s costume and the shout from the audience. Oliver remembers the running order, the length of his set and the look he got afterward. Those concrete details are what make the exchange work when Kimmel lets one guest’s story lead into the other’s.

Their next shared stage is the Beacon

Meyers and Oliver are also appearing together at New York’s Beacon Theatre. The official listings include October 25, November 22 and December 13, 2026. These are joint live appearances, not episodes of a new television show.

This time, people buying tickets know which two comedians they are coming to see. There is no surprise character interview before a major band and no obligation to follow Mr. Methane. Their memories of the nights that went badly give the current pairing something to laugh about before they return to a New York stage.