Geneseo students experienced a night of off-color yet entertaining comedy last Saturday as comedian Eliot Chang performed a free show in Wadsworth Auditorium.
Chang is an established entertainer, having appeared on such television shows as Comedy Central's "Premium Blend," E!'s "Chelsea Lately" and NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly," as well as having toured at over 400 colleges across the country, according to his Web site. The show was sponsored by Activities Commission and marked Chang's second appearance at Geneseo.
A large crowd of students eagerly awaited the start of the show Saturday evening despite a 15-minute delay. However, the wait was well worth it as Chang soon burst on stage with an energy and flair that instantly had the audience laughing in amusement.
Chang began his show with a bit about drinking in college. He described the over-consumption of alcohol as not only dangerous for obvious health reasons, but also because it "leads to sex with ugly people." As Chang did his impressions of a guy waking up to find Cookie Monster in his bed and a girl waking up to find Chewbacca in hers, the audience seemed to be enjoying the show.
Next, Chang dealt with sexual stereotypes, using an awkward yet humorous situation from his personal life to denounce homophobia. He talked about his male friend who recently "came out" and another mutual male friend who has been refusing to hang out with him because he is afraid of being hit on.
"You think he's gonna sleep with you - you can't even get women to sleep with you!" Chang said to his homophobic friend, "Take what you can get!"
Chang followed up with a rant about how recent technologies have made relationships more impersonal, much to his annoyance. "Real men do not ask out women via text," Chang said. "That means, 'I don't have enough confidence' … Guys, just grab your butts and dial!"
Chang went on to denounce Facebook members who "update their Facebook status every 30 minutes," and post "400 pictures of [themselves] at the same party." Chang joked, "There is no difference between you at 8 and at 8:30 unless you're a f------ Transformer!"
As the show reached its final minutes, Chang switched to a more blue-collar comedy approach. He went into jokes about sex and dating, as well as his theories about relationships in general. The audience's cheers showed that they seemed to appreciate the more hardcore material immensely.
"It was f------ amazing - funniest Asian comedian ever!" freshman Yuriy Sukhorukov said. Indeed, Chang's more low-brow jokes may have bordered on bad taste, but the comedian managed to use his style and delivery to point out the humor much to the delight of the audience.
More information about upcoming AC events can be found at actcomm.geneseo.edu.