description: On the October 20, 2026 edition of NBC's Late Night, a joke about a tooth found in a taco landed awkwardly. Here's how Seth Meyers turned the weak laugh into a second punchline.
On the October 20, 2026 edition of NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers, a gag about a cow's tooth found in a taco drew a subdued audience response. Meyers stopped, addressed head writer Alex Baze and proposed trying again tomorrow—with an entirely different punchline. The joke that missed became the setup for a better joke about writing jokes.
The real story behind the taco
A customer in Austin, Texas, filed suit on October 13 over an alleged discovery in a takeout taco purchased June 9. Torchy's Tacos told local station KVUE that its review identified the object as a cow's tooth. The company said its barbacoa uses beef cheek and that it was working with its supplier on prevention. Those statements concern the object; the customer's claimed injuries and the company's legal liability remain matters of allegation and adjudication.
What did the audience see?
According to TheWrap's October 21 account, the show displayed an edited image of an employee with a missing tooth. Meyers delivered a line in which that employee insisted the item was a cow's tooth. The visual implies an altogether more embarrassing possibility: perhaps the tooth came from the employee. But the room did not respond with the usual burst of laughter. Meyers waited, kept his composure and turned toward Baze.
Did he really promise to repeat the joke?
His request was itself a comic bit: try it tomorrow, change the punchline completely, and do not tell him what the new ending is. That is not confirmation that an identical sketch will air the next day. It is a performer turning a disappointing response into a public writers' meeting. Instead of treating a customer's unpleasant experience as the punchline, the follow-up targets the show's own failure to find one.
Why is the awkward pause the funny part?
A late-night monologue is designed to move smoothly from setup to punchline to the next news item. Here the machinery briefly becomes visible. The host admits the line needs work; the unseen writer becomes a character; and the audience witnesses the attempted repair in real time. The pause is no longer dead air. It becomes part of the routine.
Bottom line
Meyers was not announcing a broadcast malfunction. He was improvising around a joke that landed softly on the October 20 show. TheWrap documented the exchange on October 21. The video link below identifies the program's published monologue; this account does not claim independent viewing of the complete clip.
