Seth Meyers is one of the most recognizable faces in late-night television. But in a raw new sit-down with Hoda Kotb on her Joy 101 podcast, the Late Night host admitted the job that made him famous nearly buried him first.

Meyers joined Saturday Night Live in 2001 alongside Amy Poehler, in a cast that still included Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan and Jimmy Fallon. He described the reality that set in fast: "You are excited for three days after you get hired and then you start. And it dawns on you that people get fired."

Asked how it felt to walk into that room, Meyers didn't soften it. "I got eaten alive pretty quickly," he told Kotb. He'd leave Wednesday table reads thinking, you're not as funny as they are — and he knew it wasn't insecurity talking. "I'm a very good judge of talent, including my own."

The cruelest part, he said, was realizing effort couldn't close the gap: "You can't outwork talent." For a stretch he carried the nickname "the king of dress rehearsal," writing sketches that died quietly before air.

"The first five years were the darkest emotional years of my life at SNL."

The turn came when Tina Fey left for 30 Rock and Lorne Michaels floated an idea out of nowhere: what if Meyers became head writer? "At first it felt like a life preserver," he said. "To all of a sudden be like, oh, wait, I know how to do this. It was just like — oh my God, dry land."

Meyers credits the pivot to sketches he'd written for other cast members while struggling to land his own. Years later, when Fallon moved to The Tonight Show, Michaels called again.

"It wasn't until they hung up, I'm like, did I just get offered late night?"

Meyers also revisited the birth of his middle son, Axel, who arrived on the floor of the family's New York apartment lobby. His wife Alexi was heading out the door for a 40-minute cab ride to the hospital when she stopped. "She at the door was like, it's here now." Meyers says the entrance explains the kid: "He's just a hurricane, fully on his own schedule."

Now a father of three — Ash, 10, Axel, 8, and Addie, 4 — Meyers says his mornings walking the boys to school are the best part of his day, and his daughter's bedtime affection tops out at "a firm handshake."

Asked what brings him joy, Meyers pointed to the hour he tapes his show. "There's a real strength in laughter," he said. "The sound of laughter lets those who are set against you know that they haven't beat you down."

Listen to the full interview with Seth Meyers on Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb now on the free iHeartRadio app.

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