Armed with only a microphone and a set of risqué jokes, comics at the UW-Milwaukee Campus Activity Board’s (CAB) annual comedy show had attendees doubled over in laughter.
Held on April 29 at 7 p.m. in the UW-Milwaukee Union Wisconsin Room, 220 E. Kenwood Blvd., the event featured three comedians with varying backgrounds.
Setting the tone for the rest of the night, UW-Milwaukee student and comedian Adyn Hamann kicked off the event with jokes about Amish culture and cannabis-impaired driving, drawing loud laughs from the crowd.
“I thought [the crowd] was fun, it was definitely a little slow in the beginning, but that’s difficult for a show, then it warmed up, and it was awesome,” Hamann said.
UW-Milwaukee student Lola Onorato said she enjoyed her first CAB comedy show.
“The fact that the host goes here is really cool, and he was very funny,” Onorato said in reference to Hamann, who opened the show.
Following Hamann, stand-up comedian and New York City native Lucas Zelnick took the stage, feeding off the room’s energy. Zelnick incorporated crowd work into his set, with jokes focused on politics, sexuality, and recurring callbacks to an audience member referred to as “yellow beanie,” causing outbursts of laughter from attendees.
Ending on a high note, former Saturday Night Live (SNL) cast member Devon Walker left the audience in hysterics with a bit poking fun at an out-of-touch Pharrell Williams speech, during which Walker briefly took a seat in the audience and had an attendee take the stage. The comic also expressed his appreciation for the American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters beside the stage, noting that it was the first time his show had interpreters.
“I’m a big SNL fan, Devon Walker was on SNL, and I saw him on that, so I really pushed for him, as well as the other members, like Lucas Zelnick. He’s on my TikTok ‘For You’ page all the time,” CAB student staff coordinator Anne Ager said. “The student comedian, Adyn Hamann, reached out to us and asked if he could open, and we thought it’d be a great idea.”
Ager explained that the planning process for the annual spring event begins months in advance.
“In the fall, we get a list of comedians from an agency, and we do a lot of research on their backgrounds, what they’ve been in, if students would like them, and an overall vibe check of the comedian,” Ager said. “There’s a team of us, so we go through, pick out comedians, start sending contracts over, and it kind of goes from there.”
Reflecting on the event, Onorato said she felt a sense of community during the show.
“Comedy and live comedy are such beautiful mediums for getting people together. Everyone’s laughing over the same stuff, and everyone’s not laughing over the same stuff, and it was wonderful,” Onorato said.
“I feel a sense of community with anyone that believes that you could laugh at anything because that’s how comedians look at the world,” Zelnick added. “I think anyone that comes to a show that tries to feel that way, I feel some connection to.”
Zelnick explained his likeness of performing at colleges stems from the diverse backgrounds each audience member brings.
“I like performing in politically ambivalent places. Colleges aren’t really politically ambivalent, but the more diversity you can get in a room of thought, background, gender, or age, helps because if everyone feels the same way, you’re either going to totally crush or totally bomb,” Zelnick said.
Walker stressed that while comedy can be a useful tool for navigating pressing social issues, it should not be expected to make an impactful change on its own.
“Comedy is nice and fun, and I’m grateful to get to do it for a living, but it’s not medicine. We need good doctors and infrastructure, that’s the stuff we gotta work on,” Walker said. “We gotta get more house seats, that’s the stuff that’s actually important. I’m just a silly man.”
While the current climate of the world can be overwhelming, Walker added that unity can help overcome hardships.
“We can be helpful for an hour at a time and make people feel good for a little bit,” Walker said. “For this hour, we’re all in it, we’re all in this together.”