Peter Kramer/NBCSeth Meyers can take a breath.
The Saturday Night Live fan favorite made his Late Night hosting debut on Monday night, with BFF and former Weekend Update coanchor Amy Poehler and Vice President Joe Biden as his first guests.
Expectations were high, given Jimmy Fallon's recent ratings success in his Tonight Show debut, and Meyers delivered. Late Night attracted 3.4 million viewers on Monday night, as well as a 1.4 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. Even more impressive? It was Late Night's best demo rating on a Monday night in nine years. Stefon will be so proud!
But did Meyers' debut top Fallon's first time hosting Late Night in 2009?
Yep!
Meyers beat Fallon by a slight margin, attracting about 500,000 more viewers, while also scoring a tenth of a point higher in the demo.
But Fallon is doing just fine, as his Tonight Show debut brought in 11.3 million viewers and a 3.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, thanks to a dancing assist from Will Smith and a slew of celeb cameos, including Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Mariah Carey and more.
Meyers gave his predecessor a shout-out during his debut; as Fallon's "Thank You Notes" music played, the new host wrote, "Thank you, Jimmy Fallon, for taking over The Tonight Show at 11:30, so I could take over Late Night at 12:30. I promise to treat it with respect and dignity, and to only use it to do completely original comedy pieces...Starting now."
Kanye West, Kelly Ripa, Brad Paisley, Lena Dunham and more are all set to make appearances on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
(E! and Late Night With Seth Meyers are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)