'Late Night with Seth Meyers' new writing staff has Chicago flavor

By Sun-Times Wire

The “Late Night with Seth Meyers” writing staff (Alex Baze/Instagram)

Late this past spring, a month or so after NBC announced that longtime SNL head writer and “Weekend Update” anchor Seth Meyers would succeed Jimmy Fallon as the host of “Late Night,” Meyers told the Sun-Times he’d already spoken with several Chicago-trained folks about writing for his new venture. “[C]oming out of the Chicago improv scene, as I did,” the Northwestern-schooled Meyers said, “there’s that sense of ensemble, which is really important and something I want to have on the show.”

And so he will, thanks in large part Peter Grosz, John Lutz and Conner O’Malley and Alex Baze. By the looks of photos originally posted on Instagram by the program’s producers Mike Shoemaker and Alex Baze (and recently re-posted by Splitsider), they’re part of a eight-person crew that so far has only one woman (Alison Agosti) and might expand a bit before “Late Night’s” February 24, 2014 debut. All three have solid Chicago comedy roots — Grosz and Lutz at iO Theater and Second City, O’Malley at iO, Annoyance Theatre and the Upstairs Gallery.

Peter Grosz, via imdb.com

Before joining Meyers’ staff, Grosz worked as a writer for Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” Along with TJ Jagodowski, he has appeared in numerous television commercials for the fast food chain Sonic. With Lutz, Grosz also co-created the Chicago show “4 Square.” They’ve performed a smaller version, dubbed “2 Square,” in New York.

John Lutz, via nbc.com

Lutz, a former writer and occasional bit player on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” starred as comedy writer J.D. Lutz on the network’s long-running hit “30 Rock.”

Conner O’Malley, via ucbtheatre.com

Besides his numerous shows at Annoyance, O’Malley was part of several iO improv teams, including Mrs. Dad, Sports Team and Baby Problems. He also performs with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York.

Alex Baze, via Twitter

Head writer Baze trained at Second City and iO Theater (formerly ImprovOlympic) before moving on to SNL, where he wrote for “Weekend Update.”