Western Courier

Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: The Edge

Media Credit: AJ Self Jim Gaffigan entertained a full crowd at Western Hall Thursday night.

On Thursday night, Western Illinois University students formed a boisterous crowd for a stand-up comedy performance by Jim Gaffigan. Presented by the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, the writer/comedian/actor's onstage routine proved to be very successful, receiving a deluge of cheers, laughs and thunderous applause.

Opening for Gaffigan was a brief act by Richie "Ray" Brooks, a comedian from Rogersville, Tenn., in an attempt to warm up the audience. Much like the audience's reception of the pre-show introductions by the BCA and a few messages from Macomb corporate sponsors, Brooks struggled to relax a keyed up crowd that was bent on getting straight to the point. Most of the viewers came for one reason: They wanted to see Gaffigan and shouted all sorts of remarks, even booing Brooks for the temporary prevention of the inevitable jokes about "Hot Pockets."

"Get off the stage," other participants yelled. People grew more and more agitated as the opening act continued. Brooks seemed to know it, too, a hint of nervousness in his voice. At one point, he even half-jokingly remarked about the lack of laughs from an unsympathetic crowd.

Once Gaffigan took to the stage, however, students burst into uproarious cheers and applause, settling down thereafter as hilarity ensued. Beginning right away, the comedian aimed jabs at himself, commenting about his paleness and weight, and then he proceeded to talk about his trip to Western, describing what he saw on the way.

"The trip was like this: Plane. Plane. Corn. Corn. Corn. Cor n," he said to chuckling fans and newcomers alike.

The real essence of his show was a collage of jokes about mundane, everyday life, focusing on the "simple things," as he called them. He made wisecracks primarily about food, but everything from escalators and doors to manatees and religion was included.

One of the bigger hits with the audience was a series of jokes based around "Hot Pockets." Gaffigan repeated the name of the product again and again in his own warped, softly voiced version of the commercial tune.

For many of the people in attendance, Gaffigan was a comedian many students already knew about and enjoyed. They knew of his recently released album, "Beyond the Pale," and of his minor movie roles, such as in the comedy-hit "Super Troopers." In that film, he played a Vermont driver subjected to a twisted game played by state troopers in which the officers repeatedly used the word "meow."

Sean Martin, a senior at McKendree University, drove up from Lebanon, Ill., to bring three friends and introduce them to Gaffigan's style of humor.

"It was just awesome," Martin said. "There was some new stuff thrown in there aside from (what was on) 'Beyond the Pale.'"

While there may have been a few bored audience members hidden somewhere in the crowd, the general consensus was a sidesplitting response from attendants. Jaclyn Bisanz, junior business management major, spoke fondly of the event.

"I laughed the whole time. I think he is hilarious," Bisanz said.

After the show, audience members were given the chance to meet Gaffigan in person as he spent time signing programs for free. He was also selling CDs, DVDs and posters, and students lined up in droves.

For a man who claimed he applauded laziness and loved to lie around in bed, he sure put forth an effort to make fans happy.

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