Seth Meyers visited Roble Hall at the invitation of college friend Ellen Oh.
Earlier this week a message went out via Facebook and Twitter that was something akin to “get thee to the theater.” Roble, that is. Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA) announced through social media channels that it was giving away a very limited number of tickets to see Saturday Night Live head writer SETH MEYERS at Roble Hall Theater. At the appointed hour, enough students were lined up around Harmony House to claim all the tickets in 10 minutes.
The SNL star’s appearance was thanks in large part to ELLEN OH, Meyers’ former college friend from Northwestern University and now program administrator for IDA. Her connection with Meyers, coupled with a strong partnership between IDA and the Stanford Residential Arts Program, made the Meyers program a huge success, and a vast improvement on the comedian’s last visit to Stanford. During the hour-long conversation, Meyers reminisced about his first performance at the university that took place in a science lecture hall with a chemistry table in front of him and the periodic table of the elements behind him. “So Stanford,” he said to appreciative laughter.
Oh and IDA executive director JEFF CHANG were thrilled to be able to present the very first program in the newly renovated Roble Hall Theater. Most of IDA’s programs are held in the Harmony House living room with a cozy capacity of about 40. One hundred students were able to participate in the conversation with Meyers at Roble, which is the university’s largest four-class residence hall.
“Interaction and access are two of our goals, and while the larger theater meant more students, it still felt intimate,” said Oh.
Why is Seth Meyers a guest speaker for an organization dedicated to diversity? “Diversity by definition is all of us together. With Seth we were also examining diversity in comedy and career,” said Chang. “When Seth talked about how difficult it was to write a sketch about Jeremy Lin, it was profound to hear that he had been thinking hardest about what would make Lin laugh. It’s an example of how artists are trying to represent a new America.”
