SPF ’13: Seth Meyers Provides Laughs, Mid-Semester Relief

Colin Jost opens for Seth Meyers Friday. | Photo by Cecilia Weddell
Colin Jost opened for Seth Meyers Friday. | Photo by Cecilia Weddell

Greece’s “yogurt-based economy,” online dating, and gender politics inherent in towel usage were among many topics discussed Friday night in Metcalf Auditorium. Seth Meyers, head writer and Weekend Update anchor of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, performed stand-up comedy to more than one thousand BU students. Opening for Meyers was SNL co-writer Colin Jost, whose act segued and intertwined smoothly with Meyers’s for a night filled with laughter.

The event was part of the Programming Council’s SPF ’13 (Spring. PC. Frenzy. 2013.), open only to BU students. SPF started Thursday night with Mr. and Miss BU and concluded Saturday with a free We Are Scientists concert in BU Central. The weekend was organized to “kick off the spring,” noted Friday’s event manager Jeremy Lowe (SMG ’14). “It’s a way to say welcome back from spring break and build community for all of BU.”

Seth Meyers performs stand-up Friday to over 1000 BU students. | Photo by Cecilia Weddell
Seth Meyers performed stand-up Friday to over 1000 BU students. | Photo by Cecilia Weddell

Students in the crowd found the event timing ideal. “Knowing Seth Meyers was at the end of the week is what pushed me through the workload that came right after break,” recalled Jessica Hackel (CAS ’14). “The show was hilarious. It was surprising to hear Seth Meyers drop the f-bomb, since he can’t say it on television. It made him seem less innocent, which was kind of endearing.”

Indeed, Meyers’s act seemed tailored to the crowd’s age and experience. Meyers noted mid-show, “I love college audiences.” He joked about study-abroad pretentiousness, sex on futons, and social media. He shared SNL Weekend Update “jokes the censors won’t let us tell” with the crowd, to gasps and raucous laughter.

In a post-show interview, Meyers mentioned that Boston is the closest he gets to home—Manchester, New Hampshire—while on tour. “I internally boo the Yankees,” he said of his position as an avid Red Sox fan living in New York. When asked why he hasn’t tried to move SNL to Boston, Meyers laughed and conceded that “Lorne [Michaels] is in charge of that … and our hosts would never figure out the Boston streets.”

To accompany the jokes fit for a college audience, Meyers offered advice for college students: “Do as much as you can now… This is a great age to fail at. 18 to 24 is the best time to make mistakes and find out what makes you unique.” Surely, Meyers made the right mistakes.

The Boston University Programming Council announces all their upcoming events and contests on their Facebook page. Saturday Night Live has new episodes Saturdays at 10 p.m. EST on NBC.

About Cecilia Weddell

Cecilia Weddell (CAS 2015) studies Comparative Literature and Mathematics. She likes poetry, basketball, YouTube videos of baby animals, and tea.

View all posts by Cecilia Weddell →

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