2008 Woodie Awards
Black comedy jams at maximum capacity
Reggie Steele and Kevin Avery told side splitting jokes that had the Pub rolling on the floor with laughter
Kirk Juhasz, Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/1/06 Section: Entertainment
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SSU gave a huge and encouraging welcome to comics Reggie Steele and Kevin Avery.
The first thing to go were the seats, the second thing to go was the pizza, but the laughs kept coming and never stopped as Steele and Avery absolutely kept the crowd in stitches.
Each had their own act and style which added a lot of variety to the show. It went from good, almost clean fun, to good, offbeat and a little bizarre.
It could not have turned out better for the Associated Student Productions and The Student Union or for the comics, who seemed to have a blast.
As the little pub became more and more packed, people quickly realized how essential it is to come early to comedy events.
Ten minutes before the show was scheduled to start every seat was taken. There were guys who brought in a couple of couches from the hallway while others brought in the green plastic chairs from outside. There was still even more people who had to stand or lean against the bar.
The maximum occupancy at the pub is 217 for an assembly. Underneath the sign it should have read more for a comedy show because the 217 limit must have been exceeded, maybe even doubled.
A thought for the next show: maybe it should be held in Person Theater. Another thought: order more pizza.
An ASP representative yelled across the room, "I'm gonna order more pizza!" as the ten boxes they brought went faster than they came in. Then the show started.
The first comedian to run up on stage was Steele who mixed race, politics, geography, and pigeons into his skit. He lives in Oakland but he swears he's from Alabama.
He had a lot to say about both Oakland and Alabama.
He easily exploited the diversity of California turning it into a long running and hilarious joke.
He compared the two by saying, "My cousin (from Alabama) called me and said he saw a Hispanic guy in a movie theater… I said yeah, call me when you see another one, it's been three years and he hasn't called yet." There's more to it than that, and trust me, it got a lot of laughs.
There was great fun in just being part of Steele's action.
He put on a show that never stopped being funny.