ABOUT THE PROJECT
LOGLINE
MEE-OW, THE FUNNIEST SHOW YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF celebrates 50 years of Northwestern University’s improv/comedy show, giving rise to performers like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Meyers, Ana Gasteyer, and Dermot Mulroney.
SYNOPSIS
Northwestern University’s Mee-Ow Show is the longest-running college improv show in the country, celebrating 50 consecutive years in 2024. It boasts a deep roster of famous alumni, from performers like Seth Meyers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ana Gasteyer, Dermot Mulroney, Kristin Schaal, John Cameron Mitchell, Craig Bierko, the creator of Whose Line is it Anyway?, award-winning writers/producers/showrunners of some of the most successful TV shows and hit movies, to doctors and lawyers and everything in between.
Using archival video footage, photos, and programs, mixed with present-day interviews, footage from celebrity panels at the recent 50-year Reunion Weekend, and backstage tours, MEE-OW, THE FUNNIEST SHOW YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF will detail the journey from its humble roots as a satirical protest platform in the early 70’s to an incubator for established comedy troupes in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. MEE-OW reveals the challenges and triumphs that made it a cultural institution at Northwestern University.
Because so many Mee-Ow Show alums have gone on to well-known improv and comedy venues like Saturday Night Live, Second City, The Groundlings, iO West, Whose Line is it Anyway? , and others, we will include interviews with people working at these venues, folding in archival video of a Mee-Ow alum while working there. These outside interviews will also include the benefits and applications of improvisational skills in daily life for anyone.
MEE-OW, THE FUNNIEST SHOW YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF will provide a window into how your favorite performers and content creators got their start in comedy in a highly entertaining documentary film.
PROJECT TYPE Documentary Feature
DIRECTOR Allyson Rice, Jennifer Wiggin, Tom Wiggin
PRODUCER Allyson Rice, Jennifer Wiggin, Tom Wiggin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Seth Meyers, Joseph Radding, Paul Warshauer
WEBSITE atomic-focus.com/mee-ow-documentary
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