SNL star Seth Meyers put new spins on everything from Vegas hotels to chicken fingers to politics Saturday night, live.
Head writer of Saturday Night Live and Weekend Update news anchor Seth Meyers took a break from scripted comedy and performed standup Saturday night at the CFA. The performance was an extension of his Weekend Update persona, but was also geared toward his life experiences.
As Meyers casually strolled on stage his cool and confident demeanor radiated into the full audience and incited an uproarious applause.
He immediately began his set and threw his characteristic punches at current events and the faces of the media.
Meyers humored the audience with his typical Weekend Update style, telling jokes primarily about politics and not hesitating to hit the GOP debates hard.
"[It is] by far the best show on television this year," Meyers said.
The GOP primary candidates – Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, and Rick Santorum – gave Meyers a lot of material to work with, but Rick Perry was Meyers' primary victim, taking the place of former President George W. Bush.
"If you thought George Bush was too book smart, try Rick Perry," Meyers said.
One of his best political jokes was about Donald Trump running for the GOP, hinting at the fact that many Americans thought Trump running was a joke in the first place.
"Trump frequently appears on Fox News, which is ironic since a fox often appears on Donald Trump's head," Meyers said.
Meyers also lambasted the sex scandals that many politicians have been cornered in. Elliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and David Patterson were the butt of his jokes.
However, Meyers realized that although the American political system is scrutinized, it is better than the European political system, and is incomparable to the difficulties that Europe faces in compromising and making decisions.
"I can't imagine how hard it would be if all of us spoke a different language and all our [grandparents] killed each other in WWII," Meyers said.
Throughout his standup he told a wide variety of jokes and quips that anyone could understand. He appealed to the masses with his insults and punch lines, but spoke about his own comical life experiences as well.
Staying true to one of his most notable anecdotes, he described performing at the White House Correspondents Dinner and speaking alongside President Barack Obama.
Obama went into a situation room to take away the spotlight from Meyers, and that's when he got the idea to kill Osama bin Laden, which incited the loudest applause of the night.
He focused on the irony of how Osama and Obama have similar names and what would happen if this situation happened during WWII.
"[It would be like] in 1944 if FDR lost to Stalin Bitler," Meyers said.
An audience member directly responded to that with humorous haste and noted that the American people are smarter than that, and Meyers joked and responded directly to the audience member.
"No one here has a love for terrorists, we're smarter than that," Meyers said.
"He was a lot more relaxed and just his reaction to somebody who said something in the audience, he just picked it up and he kept going with it and used it in his act, it was really funny; he was really witty about it," said Emily Biniewski, a freshman nursing major. "I liked that he was a lot more comfortable because he wasn't on TV and he didn't have to be censored."
Meyers made relevant and timely jokes, but didn't overstep boundaries with his witticism. He touched his subject matter enough to interest people and make a quick joke, but not to offend people.
He concluded the night with his Weekend Update quick joke persona, and told jokes not allowed on air. This gave a familiar air of comfort, with the audience knowing that the man on stage is the man they have seen and appreciated for years on SNL.
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