VIDEO: Seth Meyers on Sobbing After His 'SNL' Audition, Talking 'Sh-t' With Amy Poehler, and Why He Tells the Same 7 Jokes Every Night

After filming 12 seasons and over 1,600 episodes of “Late Night,” comedian and TV star Seth Meyers has his pre-show routine down to a science. While some of his late-night colleagues won’t take the stage until the cameras start rolling, Meyers prefers warming up the audience himself to get a sense of what kind of crowd he can expect during the show.

“I tell the same seven jokes the same way every night because that’s how I’m setting the levels,” the 51-year-old “Saturday Night Live” standout turned late-night stalwart told Stern Show listeners on Tuesday as he sat down with Howard to discuss his latest stand-up special, “Dad Man Walking,” his acclaimed NBC talk show, and just about everything in between.

“The lights are up, so you can see people’s faces,” Seth continued of his warmups, adding that he does a temperature check before starting the monologue because he doesn’t want “shock or disappointment [to] register on my face for the audience to see.”

“So, I go out before the cameras roll, I say hi to the audience, I do my little spiel, and then I go back, and I feel like I have a good sense of [if] they’re a little quiet tonight or [if] they’re red hot,’” he continued. “And that has already been established. They are who they are, and it has nothing to do with what I’m about to do.”

“That’s brilliant,” Howard remarked.

Along similar lines, Seth revealed that popping into the green room to chat with a guest before the show is a “really important” part of his process. “I like just doing a primer coat,” he noted.

If there’s a primer coat to Seth’s long and impressive career as a comedian, author, host, and TV star it’s likely his remarkable run on “Saturday Night Live,” which began when he joined the cast in 2001 and ultimately resulted in him becoming the sketch-comedy show’s head writer and “Weekend Update” anchor until his departure in 2014.

Looking back on the eve of his big break, Meyers told Howard his “SNL” audition — which included a spot-on impression of a “stammering” Hugh Grant — went so well it earned him a handshake from series creator Lorne Michaels.

“It was the one time in my life I thought I was going to get hired,” he recalled before explaining how the experience also proved to be an emotional one: “Then I walked out of the building, and I sat on the curb and just started to, like, sob.”

While on the subject of Michaels, who still runs “SNL” in addition to executive producing “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” Howard couldn’t help but wonder if his guest would be open to taking over for Lorne at Studio 8H should he ever retire.

“I feel like I walked away from the blackjack table at the right time,” Seth said, explaining that while he’s proud of his “SNL” accomplishments and getting to lead “the best writing staff the show has ever had,” it would be hard for him to return to the show’s grueling hours and intense level of scrutiny.

Howard understood Seth’s point. “You hit the home run that you needed to,” he told his guest.

Regardless of who gets tapped to run “SNL” next, Seth thinks it will be very difficult to follow in Lorne’s footsteps. “The knives will be out for whoever it is, Howard,” he concluded. “The knives are going to be out.”

Catch more of Howard’s conversation with Seth — including a heartwarming story about his wife’s commencement address and a hilarious anecdote about talking trash at dinner with Rachel Dratch, Rashida Jones, and Amy Poehler — in the clips (below).