Meyers discusses SNL, life in comedy

Seth Meyers captivated students by joking about the college experience during his first show in Los Angeles in Bovard Auditorium Tuesday night.

 

The event, which was hosted by the USC Speakers Committee, Performing Arts Committee, Political Student Assembly and Program Board, drew a crowd that lined up and down Trousdale Parkway from the front of Bovard to Jefferson Boulevard.

Meyers is best known for his success on the NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where he has been working for 10 seasons. This year marked his fifth season as head writer and anchor of the “Weekend Update” segment.

Before making his way to the SNL stage, he graduated from Northwestern University and later honed his skills at ImprovOlympic, a place where many SNL writers and actors have launched their careers.

When Meyers took the stage, he kept the audience erupting in laughter, even as he reminded everyone that flash photography was not allowed.

“If you use a flash, I can see it. I feel like people don’t think I can see that tiny pin of light in a sea of darkness on stage,” Meyers said. “It’s fine with me. I just want you to know given you’re college students.”

Meyers’ main material, however, focused on the lives of college students. Meyers had the audience out of its seats in laugher with jokes that were relatable to the students who made up the majority of the audience.

“My favorite thing was that he talked about futons and college hookup culture, [which was] very relatable and funny,” said Katie Lin, a sophomore majoring in business administration.

Some of Meyers’ other jokes touched on everything from the struggles of student debt, studying abroad, history and politics, Las Vegas bar fights and a peak at jokes that SNL censors in the past had not allowed him to use.

“I really liked it. The audience was super great and everyone was enjoying it and that made it even better,” said Ben Preston, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. “My favorite was his routine about languages and if he got stabbed in France the only thing he could say in French was his name and to ask his killer ‘How are you?’”

Even students were not familiar with Meyers previously found the event amusing.

“It was really funny because I didn’t really know Seth Meyers. I just knew it was SNL, and I love SNL,” said Christel Tiu, a junior majoring in business administration. “I loved the part when he was talking about the towel. I found him relatable but, because I am international student, some of the stuff about politics I didn’t understand as well.”

Unlike a lot of the crude humor that is popular today Meyers referenced current and historical events.

“I was actually surprised because I thought his comedy was more slapstick, but it turns out he talked a lot more about politics,” said Daniela Cheng, a junior majoring in business administration and accounting.

Many students said Meyers lived up to their expectations. Shivangi Bhatnagar, a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering who was also among the first student to line up, staked out her spot at 2 p.m. that afternoon.

“I was so excited,” Bhatnagar said, “Some of my friends and I have been watching his videos for the past two months.”