Seth Meyers Thrown Off as Audience Audibly Gasps at On-Screen Graphic

Martin Holmes October 7, 2026, 10:47 am

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Seth Meyers was forced to restart a joke on Late Night after the audience audibly gasped at a startling on-screen photo.
The photo shocked both the live studio audience and viewers at home.
Meyers later used the image again as a comedic “jump scare.”

Seth Meyers had to restart a joke on Tuesday’s (October 6) episode of NBC’s Late Night after the studio audience was taken aback by a graphic that flashed up on screen to accompany his gag.

After his usual jokes about President Donald Trump and former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s new Fox News job, the late-night host turned his attention to a local story from Florida. However, he had to stop himself halfway through the joke after the audience gasped at the image that popped up next to Meyers.

“A man in Florida was arrested recently after he allegedly exposed…” the comedian began as a photo of the man in question appeared beside him. The man wore a black shirt, had long, straggly black hair, dark eyes, and a face completely covered in tattoos.

Meyers stopped himself and stifled a laugh as the studio audience gasped and groaned. After collecting himself, he restarted, saying, “A man in Florida was arrested recently after he allegedly exposed private information online and threatened to track women through their phone, which I’m sure you probably guessed by the photo.”

He continued, “No one sees that and thinks the setup’s going to be ‘A man in Florida was recently promoted at work!”

Meyers moved on to talk about Halloween, saying that Spirit Halloween “has released its 2026 Halloween costume trend report… coming in at number one, you guessed it…” He then jumpscared the audience by flashing up the tattooed man’s face again.