Seth Meyers Regrets the Raunchiness of His Adult Animated Series ‘The Awesomes’: We Were ‘Trying to Be Too Cool’

Seth Meyers’ comedy style and tastes have changed in the past decade, or at least since he created adult animated series “The Awesomes.”

The late night host said during his podcast “The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast” with fellow “SNL” alums Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone that “The Awesomes” was unnecessarily R-rated.

More from IndieWire

• 'The Boys' Showrunner Eric Kripke on Timeliness of Series: 'Sometimes We Feel Like We're Satan's Writers Room'

• 'Tokyo Vice' Ends at Max After Two Seasons

The Hulu series, which was co-created by Meyers and Michael Shoemaker and executive produced by Lorne Michaels, ran for 30 episodes from 2013 to 2015. The show satirized the superhero world and starred Meyers, Bill Hader, Rashida Jones, Ike Barinholtz, Steve Higgins, Bobby Lee, Kenan Thompson, and Paula Pell, among a slew of guest stars.

“There’s just too many bleeps, and now I have a 7-year-old who loves it,” Meyers said. “It was trying to be too cool and we didn’t need to be…It’s such a drag now because my son really likes watching it and every now and then there’s some sexual innuendo and you realize, ‘I don’t think anybody was watching this superhero show for that.'”

Podcast co-host Taccone pointed to how even the Lonely Island songs are “too dirty” for kids. Well, they did air during “SNL” at midnight on Saturdays…

“Every one of our songs is too dirty to play [for our kids],” Taccone said. “There’s only ‘YOLO’ and maybe like one or two others.”

Samberg added that even the clean version of “I’m on a Boat” is “just bleeped to all hell.”

Meyers previously told IndieWire that the juvenile tone of “The Awesomes” was indicative of where he personally was in his life at the time. In a 2013 interview, Meyers said, “I’m not ready to admit I’m a grown man. I will fully admit I love comic books.”

By adding in the (at the time) subversive animated element, Meyers pointed to adding to the superhero zeitgeist that was at its peak at the time.

“The biggest movies every year are superhero movies. It’s not like it’s a niche anymore,” Meyers said. “I still feel like the best way to tell a superhero story is animated — or certainly if you come from comic books, it feels that way.”

Critically acclaimed Prime Video series “Invincible” took a different approach to animated superhero shows when it debuted in 2021, while “The Boys” (also based on a comic book) leaned into the darkly comedic undermining of the business of hero-dom.

Best of IndieWire

• A History of Unsimulated Sex Scenes in 17 Cannes Films, from 'Mektoub' to 'Antichrist' to 'Caligula'

• The Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now

• Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 54 Films the Director Wants You to See

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.