Late Night Finally Bows To 'Big Chair,' Gets Big Chair

Yesterday evening I was minding my own business -- probably in the middle of yet another "Let It Go" cover by my three- and five-year-old nieces -- when my Tweetbot lit up. To wit:

something tells me @taraariano will be happy about a subtle change on @latenightseth tonight

— Ross Luippold (@rossluippold) April 23, 2014

This was an intriguing message, since the tweeter, Ross Luippold, is not just some rando who happened to be visiting a Late Night taping: he's the show's social media manager, and someone who had already tweeted at me a few weeks ago when my post about the show's minuscule guest chair was blowing up all over the internet. "Could it be?" I wondered. "Could the show finally be righting this historic wrong?"

Things did not begin in a manner that gave me much hope. The same old guest chair (barely) occupied its usual spot beside host Seth Meyers's desk through his opening bit, and also, after the first commercial, through a bit in which writer/performer Michelle Wolf played "Grown-Up Annie."

But then! Out came the night's first guest, Anthony Bourdain. And something was different indeed.

Bourdain got a pleasant surprise in the form of a seat that could actually accommodate his 6'3" frame! He didn't acknowledge the change and neither did Meyers, but I and all of you know that no TV production can deny the kind of truth bombs I dropped in that first post. THAT FIRST CHAIR WAS NOT APPROPRIATE and SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE. I didn't raise my voice in order to bring glory to myself, but for the sake of all those guests who would have had to spend uncomfortable minutes teetering in that Barbie-sized perch just to promote their projects. You guys, I'm not a hero. I'm just an ordinary citizen who saw something and said something.