From the moment Josh Popkin ‘14 strode on to the stage with only a water bottle and his earnest confidence, the crowd was already chuckling. The seats buzzed with laughing teenagers winding down after the long school week and hoping for a little stress relief.
Oct. 4 marked Staples student Michael Mathis’s ‘15, second performance at Toquet Hall and Josh Popkin’s first showing. The night also featured professional comedians Ryan Conner, Erin Conroy, and Sean Gebhardt.
Popkin opened with a warm greeting and went right into a hilarious range of topics, giving the crowd an opportunity to let go of any angst from the day. As the audience was bent over in their chairs laughing, Popkin quickly joked about essays on public nudity, the difficulty of finding passwords, and how to choose your toothpaste flavor at the dentist office.
Then came a surprise to all of the crowd. Michael Mathis took the stage in suspenders and began telling a few jokes that the audience seemed a little perplexed by. Finally, he let them in on joke and said, “You guys only paid $5 for admission and there are 5 comedians here tonight. I want to give you your money’s worth of a $1 comic!”
The crowd lost it. Students and the few adults alike were invigorated and ready for another fantastic performer.
Erin Conroy, the only women comedian, had everyone in stitches with her nonchalant opening, “Are y’all still in high school? Don’t worry it’ll be over soon.” The laughs and charged energy continued to Sean Gebhardt, an XM radio comedian who impressed after hilarious, yet highly explicit, stories about living in Brooklyn, being hipster, and terrible rap.
Diyab Khan ‘15 said of Gebhardt, “I think the dirty humor was perfect for us high school students.”
Finally, Ryan Conner, the main attraction of the night took to the stage. As a contributing writer for SNL’s “Weekend Update” and MTV’s Ridiculousness, the crowd expected wittiness, unique stories, and roaring laughs. Conner satisfied expectations as he whipped out crazy stories about following around a man in a supermarket, growing up with 11 brothers and sisters of four different ethnicities, and even his stories about a blind person had the audience doubling over.
Maddie Gray ‘16 said looking back on the highlights of the night, “I thought it actually relieved a lot of stress and let us kids just laugh!”
