Club & Greek

SAB Presents Comedian Thomas Dale in Anacon Hall

Comedian Thomas Dale had approximately 60 students laughing out of their seats at the University’s Comedy Night hosted by the Student Activities Board (SAB) last Friday, Jan. 24, at 8 pm in Anacon Hall.

From the start, the comedian was very involved with the crowd and established a loose, comfortable and appropriate comic environment.

Dale expressed his message through his comical spirit about growing up gay in an Italian family with a cop as a father, an emotional mother and three psychotic sisters who are always PMSing.  He joked about how much he loved straight guys, how nice it must be to be a girl, and how sometimes he even wishes he was a girl and not a gay man.

Dale is most famous from his work on Chelsea Handler’s show Chelsea Lately where he has been part of her round table. He also has a YouTube channel where his video “S*!t Long Island People Say” has almost half a million views.

Comedy Chair Courtney Lockewood discussed what SAB did to host and set up comedy night. “The pre-production process started with general research conducted by the 12 manned SAB executive board staff. This research consists of YouTube videos, Comedy Central acts, or an occasional email from an agency,” she said.

Once the prospects are found, the names are handed over to Megan McGowan who is in charge of SAB. According to Lockewood, the financial process is then completed, and calls to finalize dates and booking begins.

This year, SAB has been bringing the comedy shows to life by adding small intimate tables of four or more and adding tea light candles to really set the mood.

Amy Bellina, Director of Student Activities and Student Center Operations, said, “There are a couple different ways that SAB works for pre-production. We get a ton of mailers and emails about information on different acts and performers, but also they attend The National Association of Campus Activities Conference where performers are showcased, where some of the prospects come from. The pre-production process is a long one that usually starts a semester ahead.”

Once a comedian is selected, the school has no involvement with the material produced.

“The students choose the performer after an initial viewing, we have no say in the material. So far we have not run into any problems with that,” Bellina said.

Both Lockewood and Bellina were satisfied with the smooth running show, but Bellina admits that she would have liked to see more people. Comedy Night was open to all students, listed everywhere, advertised on campus and had free admission.

“I think comedy crosses a lot of interest. Where in music somebody may like one type of music or band and another may not. It is also a great stress-release and it’s good to laugh,” said Bellina.

When asked how the University could increase attendance for campus-sponsored events,  Allison Clarke, a senior, said, “The problem isn’t with how the University promotes events, it’s students who don’t go to events. I go to events that I can contribute my time and money on and enjoy, but plainly put, most of these kids are too lazy to go to events or they are just too interested in partying instead of bettering themselves at educational events or going to fun campus events.”

Whether this means taking more surveys of what the students want more on campus keeping prices low and planning events on days that students do not have other social activities, commitment, or reasonable show times, the University is working on in-creasing attendance and awareness of campus event and shows. Students should also realize that the SAB do not have huge budgets like other schools do and are required to have at least one program per week for students to attend.

PHOTO TAKEN from ThomasDaleComedy.com