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Comedy Review: Bo Burnham

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Comedian: Bo Burnham
Date: October 22, 2009
Location: UMass Lowell, Campus Rec Center
Rating: A-
Here’s Why:
Nineteen year old Bo Burnham rocked, shocked, and mocked UML students and fans alike (BO) Fo Sho! As he scattered onto the stage, he lamented of past, sour relationships, before he began his string of “racist” jokes, with blacks being his primary victims: “OHH MY GOD! Ohhh it’s just my shadow… I thought it was a black guy.” Though, I see these simply as JOKES most seem to not comprehend this and comment, “boy, he really hates black people… but he’s fucking hilarious!” Most bigots don’t crack me up, but that doesn’t matter, because I am not reviewing one. Anyway, despite or perhaps because he is so edgy the crowd adored his set and spent most of it laughing their asses off, self included. Bo’s set included songs (piano and guitar work) lampooning the holocaust, slavery, gay marriage, Helen Keller, the disabled, JFK’s Assasination, and much more. In between songs, Bo commanded the mic pacing through the crowd interviewing students and then later reciting haikus. I will say there is one crticism of his material that I agree with; it is easy to poke jokes about black people, both white and black stand ups have been doing this for years and it is far from unique. With that being said, he is highly creative and his music, comedy,etc. is very funny, if not the most original. Also, as I mentioned previously, Bo is merely nineteen years of age; if you look at his comedic counterparts, you will be hard pressed to find others that have such high quality material at such a young age.
Here are some of the most memorable lines:
“Rosa Parks should have called shotgun”

“My aunt always said slow and steady wins the race. She died in a fire.”

Acting as a fan,”Is there anything off limits for you? Yeah, white people. We’ve been through too much.”

“Do unto others as you would want done to you… said the rapist.”
Strumming his guitar before he is about to sing a song, “If you know the words then shut the fuck up.”

“The Minuteman, that’s what the ladies call me.”

“How old is too old to stop believing in the tooth fairy, cause my cousin is fourteen years old and he still believes in gay marriage.”

There was definitely more, but I’m drawing (and shooting) blanks. So, that’s all folks.

Chris

Entertainment, Femmes, Films, reviews

Zach Galifianakis Review

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Comedian: Zach Galifianakis
Location: UMASS Lowell, Campus Rec Center
Date: September 4, 2009
Grade: C+

Here’s Why: Well, unlike about 80-90% of the people in the audience (it was a rather large crowd of anticipating college students) I knew of Zach and his work before his breakthrough success in this summer’s comedy blockbuster,The Hangover. With that being said, my knowledge of his routine was quite minimal. I heard someone describe his act as “awkward comedy” and I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, the show was a bit plagued by poor audio. I’m not sure whether it was the university’s PA system or Zach’s ill-oratory skills. I tend to think the former, but either way people in the back (including me) put forth a valiant effort to comprehend what the comic was articulating. At various points in the show, kids shouted “FIX THE MIC! WE CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Zach merely shouted back and challenged the young men to come up front and confront him about it. This altercation between the funny man and the audience was a recurring episode throughout the evening. He simply employed the mishap as part of his show; a mitigated version of a Hicksian technique. Much of the show was Zach, as he usually performs, on the piano making bizarre, almost absurd, sometimes offensive one-liners. This was followed by brief, impromptu interviews with audience members (all college kids, mostly Lowell students) in which he poked fun at their majors or occupations. Here’s one jab that stood out to me: paraphrasing:
Zach: What year are you?
Girl (innocently): I’m in Sophomore
Zach: Yeah, I was in a Sophomore once too
The show ended with a projected video of Zach’s spoof of Whacko Jacko’s “Man In the Mirror,” which ended with our friend gaining a nice set of breasts!
Haha! Well, overall I thought it was decent; I thought it would have been better though. Some audience members, however, left right in the middle of the show, so I guess they detested it. Perhaps, he is better on recording. I’ll check it out sometime.

Chris