Dads Weekend started off with a bang on Friday as audience members were entertained with an improv performance by comedian Jeff Garlin.
The show began with an opener by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who was born and raised in Youngstown and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his comedy career.
“It’s a huge commitment,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’ve been doing it five and a half years and I’m still a freshman, technically, compared to a lot of stand-up comedians.”
Hinchcliffe performed for about 15 minutes until Garlin came onstage. Garlin’s first joke was played at the expense of Post staff photographer Julia Moss.
Garlin joked that he was displeased with the angle Moss was taking of him, so he asked her to join him onstage. He then found a male audience member to come up and had them slow dance as he sang.
The show then turned into a free-for-all as Garlin had a table of food brought out onstage and asked if audience members were hungry. About 12 people went up on stage and grabbed snacks, were put into weird positions and generally made fun of by Garlin.
“(It was) unbelievable. I think he’s one of the only stand-up comedians in the world that could even pull that off,” Hinchcliffe said. “He is an improv guru.”
Ethan Moses, a senior studying political science, was one member of the audience who volunteered to go up onstage to get a snack.
“It was an experience; I did not expect to be up there,” Moses said. “(It was) very funny.”
Ben Leikin, a senior studying business, spent the most time onstage. Garlin offered him $100 to eat an entire tray of pepperoni and then roll across stage on his stomach.
As Leikin was onstage, Garlin performed his rehearsed jokes, which included topics such as his marriage and his new Cadillac.
“(Rolling) was kind of dizzying but it was worth it,” Leikin said. “I had the best seat in the house.”
Garlin said his favorite moment of the night was watching Leikin eat all the pepperoni, adding that it was the best $100 he ever spent.
“I was very happy with tonight. It was weird tonight, what I chose to do, not the audience, but I dug it,” Garlin said. “I’ve never done that before.”
The Performing Arts and Concert Series doled out $15,000 to bring Garlin here, said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center. Ticket sales for the event more than covered the contract fee.
Holzaepfel said the mission of the series is not to make a profit but to provide entertainment opportunities at a fraction of the cost of larger metropolitan areas.
“I think something really special happened here tonight,” Hinchcliffe said.
je726810@ohiou.edu
