Joel McHale
Entertainment

Joel McHale Humored MU ‘Community’ at the MAC

Joel McHale, host of E!’s “The Soup” and star of NBC’s “Community,” served up some hot comedy when he performed his stand-up routine at the MAC on Saturday, November 5.

Trading in his “Soup” suits for a sweater and jeans, McHale stepped in the spotlight to joke around with the audience about the latest in reality TV, celebrities, his family life, and the University itself.

The event was sponsored by AEG Live and Concerts East.

Before the show, a small crowd congregated around the MAC for the doors to open.  Freshman Sean Ireland, who was waiting, said, “I’m not looking for anything particular.  I’m just looking to have a good time,” when asked about what he expected from the show.

Molly Mantell, a music industry major and “Soup” fan, was also waiting outside and said, “It’s been a stressful year so far.  I just need something to brighten the mood.”

Josh Rabinowitz opened up for McHale and riffed about college, prank phone calls, finding women, his height, having a hairy chest, and smoking.

When he spoke about college, he mentioned one time a mugger was going after women, and said, “I wasn’t afraid of being mugged.  I was terrified of being the only guy mugged.”

He continued to imagine if he was mugged, news reports would say, “Despite this, police still think he’s targeting women.”  He also talked about his “awkward” orientation when his leader had students sit in a circle and say what they would do if they went back in time. 

Later on, Rabinowitz said being cool is “harder as you get older” and said in elementary school to be cool, “I just needed to come to school with a Lunchables.”  He also said, “Capri Sun was like the vodka of elementary school.  We were so buzzed, we played tag all day.”

Rabinowitz finished by joking about soul mates.  He described a romantic meeting between his grandfather and grandmother with music playing and eyes meeting. 

Then he described this situation in modern terms by seeing a girl dancing alone, wearing a thong, grinding with her on the dance floor.  He humorously added, “It was at this moment I said ‘she’s the one.’  Wasn’t that romantic?”

Rabinowitz then said, “You’re in for a fantastic time,” and introduced McHale to applause heard throughout the MAC.

McHale then ran on stage and got right into action.  After noticing empty seats up front, he said he looked up Monmouth on Wikipedia and said, “It sounds like you are saying mammoth but it sounds like you have a mouth full of caramel.”  He joked that Mike “the Situation” went here and said, “This is like Chernobyl.  Did you get a discount?”

Soon, he brought up a “national tragedy,” meaning Kim Kardashian’s divorce, which was met with ovation as McHale pretended to weep.  McHale said, “I have Netflix envelopes that are older than [Kim’s marriage].”

When McHale was at a photo shoot with the Kardashians, he joked, “I have never been more afraid for my life,” because of the gags on “The Soup.”  He joked about Bruce Jenner being asleep, and getting confronted by matriarch Kris Jenner.  He also said seeing Kourtney and Khloe together were like “Han Solo and Chewbacca” side by side.  He said when he met Kim she joked about her big butt before he even had a chance to.  McHale, on stage, proceeded to imitate this with his hand a foot away from his backside.  “It was a terrible day,” he said.

McHale then quipped about Ryan Seacrest with nicknames about his height like “Little Ellen” and “Frodo,” adjusting the microphone stand and imitating him holding a microphone high up to celebrities on the red carpet. 

As for TV, McHale said, “TV is way better than it was seven years before ‘The Soup.’”  He then listed cancelled shows like “A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila,” “My Super Sweet Sixteen,” “Date My Mom,” and shows starring Flavor Flav, which were all met with groans. 

McHale also took time to riff on MTV’s “The Hills” as well as “Rock of Love” and “Rock of Love Bus” with Brett Michaels.

He later returned to reality TV by talking about obesity and shows like “Dancing Your Ass Off” and “More To Love,” which McHale described as “The Fatchlorette.” 

He also went on about “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant,” where McHale acted out the pitch for the show and said he “loves the reenactments” of these births by pretending to have one in the process. 

The audience also laughed when McHale talked about Tyra Banks and her fear of dolphins.  He talked about an episode she did about this and imitated her by saying, “I have a fear…and my fear has a blowhole.”  He joked about her phobia and said, “It’s like being afraid of a glacier.  They are so easy to avoid.”  However, he ended by saying, “We want you back, Tyra.”

Considering all the shows and people “The Soup” lampoons, McHale said there have been five instances when the program offended people.  They include Hugh Hefner, Paula Abdul and Britney Spears.  McHale also mentioned hosting the Independent Spirit Awards (“It has films no one sees”), where he poked fun at the sex scene between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in Black Swan.

McHale said the last person he offended was his grandmother.  He discussed how “The Soup” showed a clip from “The Tyra Banks Show” of a girl who ate cigarette ashes and then cut to him eating ashes and saying, “I miss you grandpa!” It turns out McHale’s grandfather was cremated.  He jokingly added, “When you explain a joke about your dead husband several times, it gets funnier.”

It wasn’t long before McHale discussed New Jersey reality shows like “Jerseylicious” and “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” 

“I lived in New Jersey for two years, so I can make fun of you,” he said.  He joked about Snooki and said, “She’s the Macarena of punch lines” and that “‘Jersey Shore’ is a bigger disservice to Italians than the mafia and Olive Garden combined.”

After this, McHale focused on past gigs and his family.  He thanked Rabinowitz for a great opening act and chatted about a former miserable opening act that ended with a joke about Anne Frank.  McHale recreated his stone-cold expression and said he was thinking, “Danger Will Robinson!”  He then joked that when he went on, “I … slipped on tears coming up on the stage” as he tried to save the crowd.

The funniest moment was when McHale talked about the University.  He described the school mascot and said the Hawk holding a wing under its face appeared as if it had something to hide.  When McHale asked who the University’s rivals were, he was met with silence.  “You don’t play anyone or you don’t beat anyone?” he said before someone shouted, “The Statue of Connecticut!”  When he asked if anyone was a Nets fan (“We’re named after equipment”), there was silence again and he asked humorously, “What excites you at all?” Saying Bon Jovi got applause and more erupted when McHale mentioned “Community.” 

When it came to past venues, McHale joked about performing in Alaska and how people were so drunk at the bar where he was that they “walked up on stage.” McHale imitated a drunkard talking to him and peeing in a corner. 

He joked about Las Vegas and staying at a resort called “The Hotel” and added “the” to everything there like “the front door” and “the toilet paper.”  He joked about how there was no coffee machine because the concierge said “they start fires.” 

He also talked about an adult pool at “The Hotel” or “as they call it in Europe, the pool.”  However, there was $50 admission and when he went to the pool, “there were 60 naked dudes and eight boobs total,” which had terrible plastic surgery he added.

McHale discussed his parents and talked about his father likes to save money.  He described stories such when his dad “returned a coat to Nordstrom’s and got his money back” after he bought it eight years ago.  McHale pretending to be him shouted, “Winning,” adding, “Before Charlie Sheen, he was saying, ‘I’m winning’ everywhere.”  McHale humorously said he would “get a Costco coffin… and return it to Costco” after his father is placed in the ground.

As for his mother, McHale joked that “she sounds like a gay designer” and that his mother-in-law has a “deep voice…like Buffalo Bill.”

With the night coming to an end, McHale told stories about his children, especially his young son Eddie.  He joked about Eddie solving a puzzle in two minutes and then standing in the corner trying to keep drool in his mouth, or dressing Eddie as a light switch for Halloween, which ended up being inappropriate. 

He also said Eddie wanted to put up a Christmas tree and his parents said after Thanksgiving, McHale, acting like his son, said, “We’ll have Thanksgiving after our nap.”  McHale also said his wife would play a joke on him by asking who Ryan Secreat was on “American Idol” and Eddie replying “dad.”

McHale added, “Eddie loves the older ladies” and joked about him going into a hot tub with a woman and asking her where she was from.  He also told a story of Eddie interrupting a house guest’s bath by jumping in with her and “playing with her boobs.”

McHale concluded with a story about a family vacation.  Upon stopping at an In-n-Out Burger, Eddie saw a small person and screamed, “What is that?!” McHale said he tried to stay calm as his wife laughed and his son continued to scream this question loudly while exiting the place.

As McHale was showered with applause, he said, “This is the most attractive University I’ve played in New Jersey” and to watch “Community” before he left.

Kelly Hughes, freshman said she liked the show, especially the stuff about the Kardashians, and how “[McHale] wasn’t afraid to make fun of anything.”  Rachel Fox, an English major, also mentioned she liked McHale talking about his family and “kids being inappropriate,” but added that she liked Rabinowitz’s opening act and how he had a tough time getting girls.

Senior Jon McNamara liked how McHale joked about the University.  “I thought he was hilarious.  He could relate to us and had stuff to say even about rivals and the campus.”  Shelby Sopkin, communication major, also said McHale “shows he cares about his audience.  He took time to know where he’s performing.”

Kae Crede, junior, said the show was better than she expected.  She said, “I didn’t think he’d be that funny but he was.  It was awesome.  I cried with laughter.”

As for “Soup” fan, Rachel Coffer, a music performance major, she enjoyed how McHale mixed up his routine by saying, “I liked how it wasn’t just pop culture and he talked about his family.  I thought he was pretty funny about the teams and who our rival was.” 

Coffer said she’d hope McHale’s stand-up at the MAC might open the door for other entertainers.  “[McHale] is a big name.  Hopefully, it’s going to encourage more artists to come here,” she said.

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