Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” anchor and head writer Seth Meyers performed standup at UF Thursday night and made jokes at the Student Body’s expense.
Meyers spoke to an audience of about 3,100 in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at the event sponsored by Accent Speakers Bureau and Jewish Awareness Month.
A line spanned the sidewalk from Gate 1 to Gate 2 at 6 p.m. An hour later, it stretched to Stadium Road.
The show began at 8 p.m.
Cassidy Howell and Lauren Bawer said they and a group of six friends took two-hour shifts waiting in line since noon.
“We absolutely love SNL,” said Howell, an 18-year-old anthropology freshman.
Bawer, a 19-year-old applied physiology and kinesiology freshman, said she and some of her friends are obsessed with the show and Meyers in particular.
“I thought there’d be more people here,” Bawer said.
Accent paid an agency representing Meyers $50,000 for the appearance, said chairman Corey Portney.
Although the event was billed as a combination event hosted by Accent and Jewish Awareness Month, Meyers said he is not Jewish after an audience member asked.
“I think this is as bad as Jewish Awareness Month could go,” Meyers later joked. “Who were your speakers? Oh, Seth Meyers and Mel Gibson.”
Meyers performed stand-up for the first hour and answered audience questions for the last 20 minutes.
He covered topics such as his different levels of Las Vegas drunk, women taking pictures with friends and the Republican presidential candidates.
He also read jokes that were banned from being aired on “Weekend Update.”
“According to a study, college students put on 6 to 9 pounds during their freshman year because of beer drinking and lack of physical activity,” he said, “which means the rest of your freshman 15 is probably a baby.”
Andrea Fershtman, a 21-year-old economics senior, said she didn’t know what to expect because other Accent speakers have done Q&A sessions, but she was pleased with the show.
“I loved it,” she said. “Especially when he called the people out for inviting him to Jewish Awareness Month.”
Meyers was born in Evanston, Ill., and graduated from Northwestern University.
He hosted the 2010 and 2011 ESPY Awards on ESPN, and in 2011 he was the keynote speaker at a White House Correspondents Association Dinner.
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org.
Seth Meyers performs at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Thursday night.
