On Friday, the Tufts University Social Collective hosted a winter comedy show in Cohen Auditorium featuring comedians Mekki Leeper and Zoe Zakson. This is TUSC’s first comedy show since 2021, and they definitely did not disappoint with witty jokes about STEM majors, liberal arts schools and the struggles of growing up with strict parents.
Mekki Leeper is a stand-up comedian, writer and actor born in Philadelphia to Moroccan and European parents. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he began his comedy career in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as Noah, one of the jurors in the popular Amazon Freevee comedy series “Jury Duty,” Eric on the HBO Max show “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” and Matt in the NBC comedy “St. Denis Medical.” For his work on “Jury Duty,” he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. Leeper’s digital series “Control Room” is also available on Comedy Central’s YouTube channel. He even performed on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” and this past week he was a guest on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Zoe Zakson, opening for Mekki Leeper on tour, is a comedian and writer from Chicago. After graduating from Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television in 2024, she has become an up-and-coming star in the Los Angeles stand-up scene. Zakson got the audience laughing with her jokes about closeted gay parents and butch lesbians. Her story about unintentionally becoming a Los Angeles Clippers cheerleader, in particular, got everyone cackling. Picture this: her roommate transformed her, a mullet-having, baggy pant-wearing butch lesbian, into a hot straight cheerleader –– and with her gymnastics background, she killed tryouts and landed a position. The story is exemplary of Zakson’s commitment to comedy, whether in her own life or on stage.
The audience is pictured on Cohen Auditorium on Friday.
Leeper then took the stage, dressed casually in a hoodie and beanie, with a Red Bull in hand. He set the tone for the night with a joke about how STEM kids are the only ones in the audience likely to make any money. He continued to playfully tease the crowd, quizzing one student about their mechanical engineering degree and pointing out that mechanical engineering students are called ‘Mech-Es,’ pronounced ‘meh-kee,’ just like his own name. Other students chimed in with their worst stories of strict parents, with one sharing that they weren’t allowed to have a bedroom door. Mekki responded that they must have gone wild during their first semester.
Mekki poked fun at himself, recalling how he was the “suit kid” in high school, because nothing says “cool” quite like business casual. He wrapped up his set by recounting a recent birthday trip to a shooting range, jokingly hoping all the liberals in the audience wouldn’t hold it against him. Mekki left the audience with one question, which we should all ponder more: Have you ever wondered why we all played those rainbow parachute games in elementary school PE? Were the teachers trying to teach us how to make our beds, or were they just too hungover to come up with a real game? Overall, Mekki's comedic style was warmly received by the Tufts community, blending humor with personal stories and relatable experiences.
The fun-filled night was organized in part by Joshua Wise, a senior in his third year at TUSC, who currently serves as the group’s Live Entertainment Coordinator. When asked why he chose to bring Mekki and Zoe on, he said, “I knew it was gonna be great just from interacting with them, because I could see them fitting in here.” Wise was right –– they definitely both fit perfectly into the Tufts culture.
After undergoing some organizational reshuffling this past year, TUSC will be hosting several exciting new events. Students can look forward to even more laughs this semester.
