In 2013, a decade before Mekki Leeper wrote and acted in the Emmy-nominated series Jury Duty, he was a college student, leading something of a double life. During the day, Leeper attended classes at Temple University, in Philadelphia. Then, at night, he was out on the town, hopping between dive bars and clubs to perform stand-up comedy.
“It was really hard to get booked,” says Leeper, now 30. So he and a friend, fellow actor Chris O’Connor, decided to widen their nets, embarking on “little trips where we would go to a city for a week,” he says. “We would do every bar show there,” couch-surfing to save money.
