Seth Meyers gave a standup comedy routine at Singletary Center in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 20, 2012. Photo by Kyle Watts | Staff
By Luke Glaser
Seth Meyers refused to let the audience stand up when he walked onstage, fearful of unreachable expectations.
Some students, though couldn’t help themselves when the “Saturday Night Live” actor made his first appearance to a sold-out crowd at the Singletary Center.
“It’s really exciting,” said Amy Baker, pop culture committee chair for the Student Activities Board. “You can tell people are really excited to see Seth and are ready to laugh.”
Molly Murdock, a nursing junior, had purchased tickets for her and her boyfriend for Valentine’s Day.
“I love ‘SNL,’” she said. “ He’s one of the funniest actors, too.”
Rudy Recktenwald, a marketing junior and Murdock’s date, was just as excited.
“I saw him at the White House Press Correspondents’ dinner, and wanted to see him here,” he said.
Meyers provided for all expectations, from some of his classic “SNL” sketches to more personal stand-up comedy.
“I love being on college campuses,” he said. “You can practically smell the futon.”
Meyers congratulated students on the successful basketball program.
“I get all of my Kentucky highlights from ESPN and ‘Justified,’” he said, referring to the FX program.
“There is one really important thing to say about UK freshman,” he continued, pointing out that at least one leaves every year to make millions in the NBA. “The NBA are the only employers that are super psyched for one year at UK.”
Sporting skinny jeans and cardigan, a far cry from the traditional coat and tie of Weekend Update, Meyer’s jokes were sometimes a far cry from his traditional “SNL” material.
Much of his comedy was derived from personal stories he told, such as messing up his handshake with President Obama before the White House Press Correspondents’ Association Dinner and an anecdote about a bar fight in Las Vegas.
“If you ever toast someone with not a drink, you’ve had too much to drink,” he said.
It was interesting hearing Meyer’s personal take on the White House dinner, a comedic routine which garnered him lots of attention before another event took the limelight away,
“I felt like I did really good at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. I was expecting good press,” he said. “Instead, we killed Osama Bin Laden.”
In good humor about his media snub, Meyers admitted that Obama one-upped him and said, “if my jokes weren’t that good, Osama would still be alive today.”
While Meyer’s material consisted of politics, such as the Republican presidential candidates and the European debt crisis, some strayed into fields much different from his political ‘SNL’ sketches.
“I lived in Amsterdam for two years,” he told the crowd. “It’s not what you think. I moved to Amsterdam because weed is legal there.”
He also told stories about late nights watching nudity on television as a 13-year-old with his friends.
“We would celebrate like we were mission control at NASA,” he said, “if mission control didn’t want to wake up their parents.”
Meyers, introduced as the longest senior cast member of “SNL” and host of “Weekend Update” since 2005, would not end the evening without some of his traditional “SNL” material
Sharing some “Weekend Update” jokes that did not make the cut of NBC censors, he had the crowd cheering with his familiar anchor impersonation.
“College students gain six to nine pounds, due to an increase in beer consumption and a decrease in exercise,” he said, holding note cards and smirking to the front rows. “The rest of the freshman 15 is a baby.”
Michael Danahy, an integrated strategic communications freshman, said he did not leave disappointed.
“It was a little more relatable, not just news stories,” Danahy said. “That’s the hardest I’ve laughed in a long time.”
Meyers walked offstage to a unanimous standing ovation. The second time around, though, he had no problem with it.
“Thank you for being a wonderful audience,” he said, “though I was hoping at least one of you would show up on a horse.”
No surprise that a naive liberal college crowd would give Meyers a standing ovation. How embarrassing for the audience whose myopic misguided upbringing and mainstream left-wing media brainwashing has led them to actually believe Meyers’ inane, self-absorbed, simple-minded brand of “comedy” is worthy of a standing ovation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Try giving a standing ovation to a member of the military, a police officer, a firefighter, or a doctor sometime—people who actually earn such admiration, not a pinhead comedian/performing monkey who brings precious little to a world long on clowns, and short on true leaders and heroes.
Yes reality check, it’s unheard of for people to applaud speakers, musicians and comedians. You’re also correct in the assumption that only “naive liberals” applaud at the end of such shows. Hope you’re enjoying your night of busting in on articles to complain about people having a good time at a comedy show.
I second what Hogan said. Politics shouldn’t even be a topic in this discussion. Mr. Meyers, regardless of his political opinions, is a comedian. His job is to make people laugh. He chose that career because he is good at it, just like a doctor chose to do his job because he enjoys it. Just because Mr. Meyers isn’t saving lives doesn’t mean that he’s just as valuable to our community. You are just a simple and closed-minded person who is jealous of the fact that something as simple as the art of making people laugh gets such a high level of popularity. I don’t judge you and whatever you do by saying, “oh, you aren’t good enough to have people applaud you for what you do because you aren’t a soldier or doctor.” And if you are, stop being so cynical. Soldiers and doctors are appreciated in their own way. You shouldn’t need an ovation for saving a child’s life; you should get the same satisfaction Mr. Meyers gets from applause by looking into the eyes of a parent whose gratitude cannot even be expressed into words. If you need an applause and public praise for what you do, whether it be fight on the front lines in Iraq or operate over a person who needs medical help, you are doing it for the wrong reason. Do what you want because you love it, not because it will get you noticed. That’s just my two cents.
Thanks for stating our collective opinions so eloquently, Hogan and Reality Check Needs… I agree wholeheartedly, but would like to add the following: How long have you been waiting around to post that, RC? Because obviously you didn’t go to the show and are only biased against liberals in general, not Seth Meyers as a philanthropic human being or comedian. Why don’t you just go spell something wrong on one of your Westboro Baptist protest signs already? Because seriously, you just come off sounding like an “inane, self-absorbed, simple-minded” dick.