University of Connecticut students nearly packed the entirety of the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts on Friday, April 24 for a free comedy show performed by Trevor Wallace and Michael Blaustein.
The evening was the headlining event of day two of the Student Union Board of Governors (SUBOG) Spring Weekend.
“Originally, it was just going to be Trevor,” SUBOG Comedy Chair Ruby Leonard said. “I was like, ‘You know what? Go big and go home. Let’s see if it’s in the budget.’ We were able to land them both because I know they have shows together. I’m really happy that we were able to get both.”
Leonard said SUBOG works with an agency to find and book acts for events like this. Despite initial fears, Leonard said that she was happy with both the attendance and results of the event.
“I was obviously worried going into it, but we sold out, which is a great accomplishment,” Leonard said. “Everyone seemed like they had a great time … so I’m really proud.”
Wallace was up first, coming out strong by making fun of the UConn chant yelled at many of the school’s sporting events. He proceeded to bark at the crowd throughout his time on stage.
He also spent plenty of time making fun of Buffalo, N.Y. and talking about his experiences with bidets.
Sixth-semester nursing major Behzad Qurbani was a member of the sold-out crowd.
“I think the bidet one,” Qurbani said on what his favorite joke was. “He did talk about that a lot. That was good.”
Although the performance was free of charge, Wallace still had plenty of fans in the crowd, like one who interrupted the show to give him a friendship bracelet, which he accepted.
By the time Wallace had finished talking about an encounter with a deaf Uber driver and how he hoped to pick up a vaping addiction, it was time for Blaustein to come on stage.
“[Blaustein] was interesting and he had some voices I did not expect; I’ll tell you that much,” Qurbani said.
Characterized by his high-pitched voice, Blaustein started his performance off with some crowd work before jumping into stories about his dating life. His tales stretched from experiences with his current bisexual girlfriend to a witch.
He also told the story of dating a girl who saw ghosts and seeing one inside of her apartment.
Each was accented by his incredible ability to do an impression of a female voice, distinctly adding to his storytelling ability.
For Leonard, this was her last big event before moving on from being comedy chair. As such, the fourth-semester human development and family sciences student said she was glad her run could end on such a high point.
“This was definitely big for me,” Leonard said. “It was my first year on SUBOG, so definitely all the steps at my smaller events that got me here, it was really great to end off on a good note.”