Student comedians get mixed reactions

---

Tweet

On Saturday, 12 comedians took the stage to compete to be the Last Spartan Standing, although they left some students dissatisfied by what they felt were inappropriate jokes.

The event has been going on for years and is MSU’s version of the TV show “Last Comic Standing.”

MSU’s University Activities Board, or UAB, began planning the event five weeks ago. The group held auditions last week and 12 student comedians were chosen to compete for prizes at the International Center in front of a crowd of about 400 people.

Marketing junior and the director of Last Spartan Standing Hilary Young said the contestants were chosen based on humor, appropriate content and experience.

“Obviously you want people that are funny, and we had a lot of really funny people,” Young said. “I want to give everybody a chance — people who have never done it before and people who have done it in the past.”

Media arts and technology junior Taylor Reschka came in first, English sophomore Nik Siddall placed second and media arts and technology senior Will Chodos came in third.

Reschka said he felt he had one of the best sets in his stand-up career, and he attributed it to the energy of the audience.

Reschka competed in Last Spartan Standing two years ago, but he did not place. He also auditioned the next year, but did not get in.

“So, from that day on, I went to clubs and clubs and tried myself for this moment, and it’s amazing,” Reschka said.

But Siddall said his performance did not go as he expected because in the middle of his set he was thrown off by some audience members yelling about one of his jokes. Siddall made a joke mentioning roofies during his act, which some students in the audience were offended by, chanting that rape should not be joked about before they left the event.

“It’s something that really just came out,” Siddall said. “I just never really thought about it and about what I said, and I didn’t expect anything to happen of it.”

Not all students felt the joke crossed any lines. Journalism junior Devyne Lloyd said she enjoyed the event aside from the interruption from some of the audience.

“It was pretty fun except for the chicks heckling the comedian,” Lloyd said. “It’s a comedy show, don’t be so sensitive.”

Young apologized on behalf of UAB to anyone who was offended by the joke.

“The UAB’s main purpose is to bring fun and alternative events to MSU students,” Young said. “I hope that we are judged by our overall performance of these events and not one isolated incident.”

For undecided freshman Craig Judy, it was his first time performing comedy for an audience.

“I thought, ‘Why not? Why not try out? (The) worst that’s going to happen is that they don’t want you for the show,’” Judy said. “They wanted me for the show, and I rose to the occasion.”

The competition was judged by three comedy experts — Frank Stevens, the owner of Connxtions Comedy Club, 2900 N. East St., in Lansing, guest judge Fred Potter , a national touring comic; and law student Jerome Crawford, a former contestant in the show. Prizes included an Apple Inc. iPad 2, a Connxtions Comedy Club hoodie and an iPod Touch.

---