When “a bunch of really insecure, attention-hungry comedy monkeys” come together, the conversation naturally turns to sitcoms, Adam Sandler and dirty jokes. One-third sketch comedy, one-third improv and one-third rock ‘n’ roll, Mee-Ow has been entertaining Northwestern students since 1974.
Their latest show, “Three’s Company, Ten’s MEE-OW,” opens tonight and marks the group’s first 10-member ensemble in three decades. Drawing inspiration from and recreating the “Three’s Company” stage, complete with risers for the audience, the TV-themed show will feature a live band, sketches, pre-written blackouts and improvisation games.
“What we’re playing with in the show are TV tropes,” Communication senior and co-director Nick Gertonson said. “We’ve got a couple sketches that make fun of TV shows that are on right now and a couple set up as talk shows.”
The show also takes cues like sexuality and cross-dressing from Jack and Jill, starring Adam Sandler.
“All that pain and heartbreak – you’re going to see that,” Gertonson said. “After people leave ‘Three’s Company, Ten’s Mee-Ow,’ I hope they say: ‘Who am I-am I a Jack or a Jill?'”
The audience is an especially important aspect of their performances and “a huge part of setting the vibe and making an interactive show,” Communication senior and co-director Caroline Goldfarb said. Because their improvisation games begin with a suggestion from the spectators and the cast cycles out different games every night, no two performances are alike.
“It’s not uncommon to see people come to more than one show,” Communication sophomore and producer Ali Parr said. “They had a great time at the first one, but they want to come back and have a totally different experience and another great time.”
And Mee-Ow is definitely prepared to give audiences a good time. After casting finished in October, the group rehearsed five days a week from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., practicing improvisations and writing sketches in preparation for their two winter quarter main stage shows. Although “being together 20 hours a week can result in a lot of beautiful and horrible things,” Goldfarb said, the group’s dedication allows the show to run itself.
Mee-Ow’s past features some impressive alumni, including Seth Meyers and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, but cast members are most inspired by each other.
“It’s like your 10 best friends for the quarter trying to put on this crazy show,” Goldfarb said. “[They are] the funniest people I know and I want to make them laugh. That’s how the magic happens.”
Gertonson said the group’s familiarity is both encouraging and challenging.
“We hold each other to an incredibly high, almost too-high standard because we know what we’re capable of,” Gertonson said. “It’s great because we pull things out of each other we didn’t even know we had. It just gets harder as it goes on because we have to keep pulling out new tricks to make each other laugh since we’re so used to it.”
The trick, Goldfarb says, is usually a dirty sex joke, which they make plenty use of in “Three’s Company, Ten’s Mee-Ow.”
“We have a super dirty show. You’re in for a good, maybe perverted time, but you won’t feel like a cheap whore. You’ll feel classy, Eliot Spitzer, all the stops are being pulled out on you.”
“Three’s Company, Ten’s MEE-OW” opens Thursday at 10 p.m. in the Louis Room. Additional performances are at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25.
–Chelsea Peng
