BEDFORD — “Saturday Night Live” star Seth Meyers played to a packed house at the Bedford High School auditorium Friday night, riffing on everything from the presidential race to his post-adolescent passion for the X-Box.

“Comedy was a currency in our house growing up,” Meyers said after the sold-out show. “My parents probably let us watch ('Saturday Night Live') a little younger than we should have, but that became very influential.”

Hilary Meyers, Seth's mother, had gotten him to come to town to celebrate her retirement after 28 years of teaching French in the Bedford schools. Since he was going to be here, he agreed to do a benefit show for the Bedford Teachers Foundation.

Thanks to Meyers, the foundation raised about $75,000. Meyers auctioned off two sets of SNL tickets at $3,000 apiece, and two premium parking spots were sold for $375 each.

Meyers also donated $25,000 to establish the Hilary Meyers Endowment for Excellence in Language Arts.

“At a young age I felt like both my brother and I had really good taste when it came to comedy,” he said, “which doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to become a comedian, but the stuff that our parents liked was of the best, highest level.”

Meyers said his family listened to comedy albums by Woody Allen, Steve Martin and Richard Pryor, in addition to watching Monty Python on public television.

The New England culture was a major influence on Meyers' comedy. “There's a real honesty in New England,” he said, “and I think New England is the head of sarcasm in America.

“The best comedy is honest, and some of the best, most honest comedians have come out of here.”

Myers said he loved going to Manchester West High School. “I had great teachers… those are guys that I think about all the time. (Bedford High) is a beautiful school but I feel like a lot of who I am is because of West.”

Larry Meyers, Seth's father, said in the seventh grade his son wrote a history of his family and got an A+. But it wasn't just any family history — it was entirely made up.

Larry Meyers said he grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., in a place where you had to be funny to survive. “After school we used to play in the schoolyard and humor was the currency in that schoolyard,” Larry Meyers said.

“I think Seth is different,” he added. “He's really intelligent and he's really observant and very quick-witted. He always seems like he's paying close attention to what's going on and he seems to be able to find humor in little things.”

Larry Meyers said humor was always central to the family. “Between Josh and Seth and Hillary and I we had a lot of fun.”

Not only was one sister present at Friday night's performance, but all three of Madame Myers' sisters came to see their nephew do the thing that has made him one of the hottest figures in American comedy.