Laughs Bring Out Students
Students pressed into McAlister Auditorium on the Tulane uptown campus Wednesday (Sept. 23) night to see comedian Aziz Ansari, well known to the college-aged generation for his roles on MTV's sketch-comedy series "The Human Giant." Tulane University Campus Programming's comedy committee presented the show that was free for students.
Comedian Aziz Ansari brings mid-week laughs to students, who filled McAlister Auditorium for a night of comedy. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
It was evident that the 26-year-old comedian, a graduate of New York University's business school, has a significant following on campus. Ansari now appears as Tom Haverford on the NBC series, "Parks and Recreation" from the producers of "The Office."
At one point, Ansari asked audience members what they wanted to talk about and he received multiple responses: students requested specifics skits, characters and jokes with which they were familiar.
Even those who didn't know of Ansari or the two comedians who performed warm-up acts before the show found the evening particularly entertaining.
"I thought it was excellent," said first-year student David Poor. He added that he "really likes" having entertainment options like this on campus.
For some students, free on-campus entertainment such as this comedy show can be a welcome study break. Helen Wang, another first-year student, said this was the first event of its type that she has attended at Tulane. She plans to attend more TUCP events, "if it fits into my schedule."
The content by Ansari and warm-up comedians Dan Levy and Neal Stastny, who is a 2007 Tulane graduate, was well-suited to the college crowd, though sometimes spiced with off-color language. Levy quipped about the college dating scene and the comedians' routines featured multiple jokes centered around social media and the ubiquity of Web 2.0.
While Levy talked about YouTube, Ansari talked about an argument with a stranger that occurred via Twitter and about using Facebook as a platform for playing pranks on a younger cousin. Both comedians joked about the potential dangers of text messaging.
The Broken Lizard Comedy Tour will come to campus on Oct. 21.
Catherine Freshley received a bachelor of arts in economics and English in 2009.
