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Seth Myers keeps the house laughing Thursday night at Irvine Auditorium. Credit: Jake Werlin

Seth Meyers is famous for presenting the top stories on Weekend Update Thursdays during election season, but this Thursday he was the top story.

The Social Planning and Events Committee’s Connaissance hosted head writer of Saturday Night Live and national comedian Meyers for over 1,000 students according to Connaissance co-director and event’s publicity manager College senior Shelly Cha.

Katie Hanlon, SPEC advisor and associate director of programs in the Office of Student Life, added that the event attracted a huge cross-section of the Penn community.

“You know what I love about college audiences?” Meyers asked during an interview after the show. “College kids haven’t gotten their dreams crushed yet, so they’re so positive with all this positive energy. It’s easy to make them laugh.”

And he had them laughing.

The event’s mediator, Theater Arts professor Marcia Ferguson, sat across from Meyers. Both situated in oversized arm chairs, she asked the comedian questions, ranging from how he got his start to the transforming media and cyber world of news sources to his favorite memories on the SNL studio site.

Meyers joked about his experience writing the now infamous Sarah Palin sketch during the 2008 presidential election.

Meyers compared it to judo, the martial art: “We like to use subjects’ momentum against them.”

He added that it’s been difficult writing material for this year’s hot button issue of health care. “It’s too bad you can’t be funny with health care like you can with Palin,” he said.

“The overall University response from events past was that students were tired of political and business speakers,” Connaissance co-Director and the event’s floor manager Calvin Gruss, a College senior, said. “They wanted someone more lighthearted and funny.”

SPEC Treasurer and College and Wharton junior Adam Thompson agreed that the Connaissance events allow students to hear incredible speakers, which he said, “is very much a part of the Penn experience.”

Meyers left the audience with words to remember: “In the moments before you start making money for what you do, create a lot of product, get stage time, do something self-motivating because you never know when lightning’s going to strike.”

After a standing ovation, however, Meyers left the audience with words they will actually remember. He read about a dozen Weekend Updates from SNL’s longest recurring sketch that didn’t appear on the show for censorship reasons.

He had the audience laughing at sexual jokes about Paris Hilton and the woman on Oprah with two vaginas.

For Weekend Update, he’s Seth Meyers! Good night!

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