Comedic creatives Zack Fox, Mekki Leeper bring laughs to A&O event

Zack Fox and Mekki Leeper answer students’ questions at A&O Spring speaker event.

May 12, 2024

A&O Productions hosted its annual Spring speaker event on Thursday night in Lutkin Hall, featuring versatile comedic talents Zack Fox and Mekki Leeper.

“We sold out in under 15 minutes for 289 seats for Lutkin, which was really amazing,” said Weinberg senior and A&O co-chair Janitza Luna. “We’re lucky to have two comedians who speak to many of the cultural interests of Northwestern students.”

The three-part event began with standup monologues from Fox and Leeper, followed by a showing of the pilot episode of their collaborative project, “Fintech,” and concluding with a short Q&A.

Fox — known for his recurring appearances on Emmy-winning series “Abbott Elementary” and comedically geared music career — opened his standup set with a few lighthearted jabs at Evanston, explaining how his whole career has led him to this night in the Chicago northern suburb.

“When I landed I was like, ‘am I doing comedy in Ukraine?’ Like, it’s rich but weirdly looks poor,” Fox said.

Leeper took the stage following Fox’s set. Known for his writing credit on the Emmy-nominated reality show “Jury Duty” and his acting role on “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” Leeper shared a variety of vulnerable personal anecdotes throughout his set.

In addition to the personal stories, he interacted with the audience consistently, asking students their takes on a variety of prompts.

At one point, he asked the Lutkin Hall crowd whether anyone in the audience also had a unique first name, to which one audience member replied “Margarita.”

“You’re lucky that’s what your parents were drinking that night,” he called. “You could’ve been Jack Daniel’s.”

McCormick freshman John Rivera attended the event as an avidfan of Fox and “Abbott Elementary,” he said.

Rivera said he specifically liked how both speakers interacted with the audience over the course of the night.

“I thought the event was great,” Riviera said. “I love ‘Abbott Elementary,’ so seeing Zack Fox perform in person felt like Tariq was on stage. Both Mekki and Zack had great sets, and I thought they did a great job interacting with the students in the crowd.”

At the end of Leeper’s set, he introduced “Fintech,” a new television series he and Fox have been working on. According to Leeper, the show has been acquired by Amazon and should commence shooting within the next year.

The series follows Fox and Leeper as NFT nepo-tech-bros attempting to create the next million- dollar idea. The pair debuted the series’ pilot episode .

The evening came to a close with a quick Q&A, where a student asked Fox to sign a bag of Doritos, referencing his hit song “Jesus Is the One (I Got Depression),” which features the line regarding Fox’ intimate encounter with a bag of chips.

“He’s definitely selling that on eBay later,” Leeper said.

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