Seth Meyers, famous comedian and host of NBC's Late Night, will serve as commencement speaker for the Class of 2016.
Meyers (Speech '96) majored in RTVF at Northwestern and recently served as grand marshal for the 2011 Homecoming Parade. Aside from frequently tweeting about NU sports, he also loves Dillo Day.
He attributes his start in comedy and improv to joining Mee-Ow, an NU comedy troupe, his senior year.
“Mee-Ow is absolutely the reason I am in comedy today,” Meyers told NBN in 2009.
Joining the troupe prompted him to pursue improv in downtown Chicago, he said, eventually leading him to Saturday Night Live in 2001. In 2006, he became the show’s co-head writer and later the sole head writer in 2008. Since leaving SNL in 2014, he became the co-creator and executive producer of the IFC series Documentary Now! and host of Late Night.
He will also be one of the five recipients of honorary degrees. The other four include Robert Atler, a University of California, Berkeley professor who has changed the field of Biblical studies; Richard Lifton, a Yale University professor who showed that increased salt reabsorption by the kidney causes hypertension; Sara S. McLanahan, a Princeton University professor who has dedicated her life researching family and child well-being through sociology; and Ruth J. Simons, the 18th president of Brown University who has provided more leadership and scholarship opportunities in higher education.