There wasn’t a dull moment at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on Friday night as the auditorium roared with laughter.
The audience members were dancing in their seats to music provided by DJ B Cool before comedians Nema Williams and Malik S. took the stage.
“I’m excited but always nervous before a show,” said Williams, a comedian from California who’s been doing stand-up for 14 years. “It’s like an emotional roller coaster every time.”
Both comedians were tired from the day’s travels but are used to it by now after working so many years in the comedy circuit. But Williams said it took some good influence in his life to put him on the comedy track.
“I was in a juvenile hall and a comedian came to put on a show for us kids, and at the end of the show I raised my hand. I asked him, ‘What does it take to be a comedian?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Be funny.’ So I said, ‘That’s what I’m going to do,’ ” Williams said. “It really changed my life and helped me leave the life of crime.”
Malik S. said his biggest influence came from The Kings Of Comedy, a group of comedians from the early 2000s that comprised Steve Harvey, D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac. The group set him on the path of his 12-year comedic career from humble beginnings in Miami, Fla.
Jerry Valentine, a former Bobcat, was the opener for the show. Valentine had people dancing in their seats and laughing at his jokes.
Both comedians interacted with the audience and sometimes even with DJ B Cool. The audience was reluctant to leave and stayed long after the show ended to discuss jokes and talk with the comedians.
“I enjoyed the show, I think Malik did great,” said Kent Harris, a junior studying interactive multimedia design and media and social change at Ohio University.
“It was a good crowd — small, but good. I thought Jerry did a great job also.”
This show was sponsored by Nationwide Insurance and put on by Winsome Chunnu-Brayda and the Black Student Cultural Programming Board. The event cost about $5,000 in contract fees, Chunnu-Brayda said.
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