With phrasing almost identical to that of Chuck Roy, UPAC Comedy’s last stand-up comedian to grace the Union, the first complete sentence out of Joel Zimmer’s mouth was, "There’s a lot of dudes here."
Zimmer, who freelances for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, performed to a full McNeil Room Friday night. Although he had no opening act and the show got off to a bit of a late start—I assume UPAC Comedy waits for the room to fill before beginning—Zimmer was still able to do an hour and a half set.
Zimmer was clearly comfortable with the audience and seemed to enjoy himself on stage; he also thanked us several times for getting some material that he said other college audiences missed. I couldn’t tell if this was a technique used to flatter the crowd (I mean, really, what Northeastern technical college crowd wouldn’t fall into stereotyping Mississippians as hicks), or if it was actually true. It did, however, have the intended effect—the audience ate up the flattery and got even more into Zimmer’s routine.
Zimmer began by talking of growing up in Michigan and graduating from the University of Michigan. His material covered partying and convincing friends to stick with a course they were taking to improve his position on the curve. He also covered his family, his first car, drinking, and relationships. Zimmer described his most recent girlfriend as "the one," before adding that he found out there was more to that phrase, specifically, "to cheat on me."
He also related a story about performing in a gay club. After his set, some men in the audience asked him if he would like a drink. Before refusing and explaining he was not gay, he realized he would be the "girl" in the situation, and would drink for free. So, while he was drinking with the men and pretending to find them funny, he noticed some women in the bar that appeared to be hitting on him. The next day a friend explained the women hang around gay bars in an attempt to "convert" gay men to straight men. As Zimmer explained, this information would have been priceless the night before.
Another story Zimmer told was of performing at a school for the deaf. He tried telling a man he had dropped his fork, and did not pander to the man’s disability by speaking unnaturally slowly, until the man signaled he did not read lips. Relishing the chance to use the sign language he learned as a kid so he and his brother could make fun of their parents at the dinner table, Zimmer spelled out, "You dropped your fork." Thinking he knew more than just the ASL alphabet, the man began signing things to Zimmer. When he spelled out that he did not know sign language, the man began signing slower.
In addition to the material above, Zimmer targeted the Public Safety officers assigned to the show—an easy target for comedians, apparently. He asked them how they ticketed drivers while on a bicycle and if they were going to search the crowd for drugs. He also did impressions and showed his take on ASL stuttering by the deaf.
Overall, the material was funny and well-suited to the audience. Zimmer handled the audience very well, although he did seem to go off on many tangents. He blamed this on not getting much sleep (there are no direct flights from LA to Albany, apparently), although it may have been part of his laid-back style as well. I enjoyed the evening very much and left feeling grateful to have the option of seeing real stand-up comedy on campus. Although Zimmer had a tough act to follow after Roy last month, I was definitely not disappointed with the performance and would encourage others to go to future stand-up shows on campus.
