“My parting gift to all of you is to go on an airplane, and as the wheels touch down, say, ‘Welcome to Chicago!’ Then, when the pilot says it, yell – ‘Too late! Too late!'”

Comedian Seth Meyers drew raucous laughter as the NU alumnus and Saturday Night Live cast member entertained 155 people Thursday night at Ryan Family Auditorium.

Meyers, Communication ’96, incorporated his NU experience into his routine as he joked about Evanston’s cold weather, the NU dating scene, dorm room futons and studying abroad.

“It is so great to be back here,” Meyers said. “I had two dreams while I was at NU: One was to come back and perform and the other was to come back and perform in the middle of February.”

The Center for Student Involvement sponsored Meyers’ stand-up routine as part of NU’s annual Winter Carnival.

“Winter Carnival has been a program designed to provide a sort of overarching programming for students and it’s geared toward winter events,” said CSI student supervisor Erica Futterman, a Medill senior. “We try to incorporate different things and try out different events to provide the campus with some big program.”

Other activities planned for the weekend include massages and free ice cream at Norris today. Some students are paying to go ice skating at Millennium Park on Saturday night. The 44 available tickets sold out, but students still can go if they pay for their own transportation.

Futterman said event planners were looking for ways to make Winter Carnival a “bigger and better event.”

She said they looked into getting Meyers because he is “an entertaining comedian and NU alum.”

Meyers made a point of interacting with the audience throughout his act. While he was making fun of eBay, he asked attendees what they had bought from the popular Internet marketplace. Answers ranged from a breathalyzer to a video of foosball tips and tricks.

Meyers followed his routine with a question-and-answer session. Audience members asked where he lived at NU and who his heroes from SNL are, among other questions.

Asked about his favorite college memory, Meyers recounted a time when he and friends from his fraternity threw giant bags of ricotta cheese from the roof of their fraternity at two men as the men were leaving another fraternity’s party.

Meyers said the men tried to retaliate by throwing a brick through the window of the house they had just left, mistaking the origin of the dairy-product projectiles.

“We were like, ‘Oh my God, that couldn’t have gone better,'” Meyers said.

Students were roaring as Meyers asked the crowd if they had ever done karaoke and then gave karaoke advice, specifically to the men, based on what he has seen in his own experience.

“Dudes that do Guns N’ Roses must sing like Axle Rose the whole time,” Meyers said. “And rap songs; many of you know the chorus but not a lot of the words, and I see this with white gentlemen a lot.”

Most students had a lot of laughs and enjoyed the experience.

“I thought it was interesting hearing about his experience at NU and his connection with his career,” SESP freshman Elizabeth Bourgart said.

Some students went to the performance to see Mee-Ow, which opened the show, but left the auditorium laughing at Meyers’ jokes.

“NU produces ridiculously funny people,” McCormick freshman Daniel Arnold said. “I thought he was really on point and related to simple issues. He was really hilarious.”

Reach Lauren Levy at [email protected].