Atkinson’s performance in Mother’s Wine Emporium—a venue he humorously referred to as “The Holy Roman Empire”—was simply superb. A large local following of his came to the show on Saturday night despite his Friday night performance at Mother’s.

His humorous antics and enthusiastic interaction with the animated audience set the stage for the most unique, interesting show I have attended. At one point during the performance, an audience member even used his laptop to provide teleprompting for the lyrics of a song by Bruce Springstein.

The element of Atkinson’s show that I enjoyed the most, however, were the frequent “Reggae challenges” by the audience. For one Reggae song, students even lined up in front to pantomime a hilarious sequence of items sung by Atkinson. Atkinson’s tribute to late animator Chuck Jones, who died on Saturday, was especially moving.

Lissow, a comedian on the national circuit, kept the audience’s attention with humor that appealed to a college student’s lifestyle. Because of the large turnout for his skits, extra chairs had to be brought in. His funniest jokes made fun of things at RPI like our lack of a single mascot (nobody knows what it really is) and the long walk up the hills of RPI campus. His pickup jokes such as one about RPI laptop security were also especially amusing.

Within Reach capped off the night by rocking the McNeil Room with songs from well-known modern/alternative groups, such as the Foo Fighters and the Dave Matthews Band, and some original songs. The band’s loud, stirring vocals and very skilled but disciplined guitar work showed why they were picked as the winner of the last Battle of the Band’s competition. If I hadn’t known prior to the show that the band’s members were students, I might have taken them for a hired professional group—their music was that good.