The Mee-Ow Show at 50: From Cultural Rebellion to Comedy Institution

The Mee-Ow Show is the longest-running student-created improvisation and sketch comedy production in the United States. Founded in 1974 at Northwestern University, it is especially noteworthy for its famous alumni, who include, among others, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Meyers, Dermot Mulroney, Craig Bierko, John Cameron Mitchell, Dan Patterson, Ana Gasteyer, and Kristen Schaal, all of whom have had successful careers in television, film, and the theater. Joe Radding and Paul Warshauer, the authors of this volume, were respectively involved in the first Mee-Ow Show as graphic artist and “Surrealist in Residence,” and as coproducer. Together, they have created, in coffee table format, a chronological narrative describing each seasonal performance during the fifty years of the Mee-Ow Show's existence, along with a compendium of archival materials including posters, interviews, and critical reviews of the annual shows. A short concluding essay reflects upon Mee-Ow Show's development, from a transgressive alternative to an officially sanctioned student production, to a widely popular component of the Northwestern undergraduate social experience. Testimonial quotes from various participants are interspersed throughout the volume.Upon reflection, the fact that improvisation and sketch comedy would find a home at Northwestern, which for generations has housed one of the leading theatre arts programs in the US and is geographically located in an area deeply supportive of theatrical experimentation is not surprising. Truth be told, The Mee-Ow Show was one of many venues available to undergraduates seeking to experiment with or enhance their performative experiences, and many Northwestern alumni achieved success without participating in the show. But for those who did participate, their experiences were often transformative. The ownership that they felt when participating in an exclusively student-organized performance, the sense of community they developed when working intimately with a small group of peers, and their willingness to accede to the demands of multitasking with regard to writing, directing, casting, acting, and producing, created powerful feelings of agency and a strong sense of pride of accomplishment.In tracing its metamorphosis from a series of sketches, musical acts, and improvisational games into a fully formed review, structured to include one-third sketch comedy, one-third improvisation, and one-third music, the authors document the ways in which the show became institutionalized. Directors were chosen from those who had performed in the show the previous year; casting procedures became more professionalized, with applicants eventually being required to submit written sketches as well as engaging in performance auditions. Eventually, initial shows where new sketch ideas that were not fully formulated could be tested in more intimate settings were performed in January, with the larger, more formal productions occurring in February.Given its chronological structure and Northwestern-centric content, The Mee-Ow Show at 50 will appeal most directly to university alumni and others closely associated with the institution. However, I believe that this work also inferentially speaks to those of us not associated with Northwestern per se, but who are generally concerned about the status of higher education in the country and its future prospects. In this vein, a number of general observations are warranted. First, although the authors repeatedly remind their audience that Northwestern undergraduates, and certainly those involved in The Mee-Ow Show, have come from various socioeconomic backgrounds and many were not overly affluent, the experiences described here are reflective of a nationally prominent, well-funded institution that coveys privileges upon its students not available to the vast majority of those seeking a college education. The students themselves were aware of their university's prominence, accepted its status as an exemplar of institutional excellence, and took advantage of the opportunities afforded them: a residential living experience allowing for easy communication and interaction with peers, material resources made available to them that supported their increasingly elaborate productions, and an undergraduate lifestyle that allowed them to make a significant time commitment to their student productions.