The Book

The fifty-year history of the Mee-Ow Show at Northwestern University and its influence on contemporary comedy

In the fall of 1973, two students at Northwestern University resolved to create something on stage that was wholly their own. Soon, they would be joined by a cohort of performers, musicians, and staff, and the resulting production would go on to launch the careers of scores of entertainment professionals, including some of the most well-known and awarded names in comedy today. This book is not only an account of the rebellious fifty-year history of the Mee-Ow Show, now the longest-running student sketch comedy and improv show in the country, but also its far-reaching influence. The storied group‘s alumni include such household names as Craig Bierko, Ana Gasteyer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cameron Mitchell, Dermot Mulroney. Seth Meyers, and Kristen Schaal.

Based on more than a hundred new interviews with group members, presenting their words alongside never-before-published photographs and ephemera, The Mee-Ow Show at 50 provides a chronicle of the last half-century of the American undergraduate experience—and reveals how, from New York to Los Angeles. contemporary comedy can trace its roots to an upstart student production in Evanston, Illinois.

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Inside the Book

Interviews with cast members

Seth Meyers (Mee-Ow ’96)

“Everything kind of sprung for me out of doing Mee-Ow. I remember the last show we did our senior year, and just thinking I’m going to do this until somebody tells me to stop. This is too much fun.”

Heather Anne Campbell (Mee-Ow ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00)

“If it hadn’t been for Mee-Ow, I wouldn’t have done Boom Chicago, which was founded by Mee-Ow people. Then I wouldn’t have started a sketch show at UCB, which is how I got to Saturday Night Live."

Ana Gasteyer (Mee-Ow ’88, ’89)

“Like many people who did Mee-Ow, the second I found it and did it, I was like, aha, my thing, my tribe, my people, the other mutant weirdos on the planet who think the way I do.”

Every show poster

Exclusive Photos

Author Notes

Note Title:

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Joseph Radding, February 2, 2025