The Office of Student Union and Activities provided students with their first comedy show, “Coming to the Stage,” Tuesday night in Lee Hall.
The star of the show was Arvin Mitchell of BET’s original version of Coming to the Stage. Damn Fool, Vanessa Fraction and Mitchell are traveling with the Black Comedy Tour. Brian Dennis, who hosted the show, accompanied the three.
Mitchell pleased the crowd with his “original” songs and various impressions of Bill Cosby and Ice Cube. Out of the 200 shows on the tour, Arvin Mitchell said Florida A&M University is the best “because it’s all black.” He said he felt like the crowd understood all his jokes and was thoroughly impressed on his first visit to The Hill.
Another notable performer, comedian Vanessa Fraction, was also featured in the show. Fraction, who was featured in Barbershop 2 and Def Jam, joked about real life situations.The first act of the show was Damn Fool, who said his name fits him perfectly because he “acts a damn fool.” The Chicago comedian wowed the crowd with jokes about his family, gas prices and homeless people.
“I think different,” Damn Fool said, explaining his funny nature and controversial jokes.
Intertwined throughout the show were little bits of encouragement to the students from the comedians.
After host Dennis did a “represent your city” portion, he said, “I applaud you guys for being proud of where you are from. Stop by your old high school. Give a holla at an old teacher that helped you get to where you are today. Let (a student) know that they can do the same thing.”
Dennis also complemented students on grades. He asked all sophomores, juniors and seniors to stand.
Starting at a 2.5, Dennis, increased grade point averages and told students to sit down if he was exceeding their average.
When he reached the 3.5 mark, about 7 students were still standing. He asked them to call out their averages, and they all ranged from 3.5 to 4.0.
Concluding the show, Dennis told the students to remember why they came to college.
“Be a better role model,” said Fraction, who originally wanted to attend FAMU. “You never know who is watching you.”
As the only woman on the tour, Fraction had a special message to the women in the crowd. “Women are like apples. The good ones are at the top.” The moral of the analogy is good men will wait on the perfect woman instead of always getting the easy ones.
All the comedians were pleased with the FAMU hospitality.”I love it here,” Damn Fool said. “This is a very receptive crowd; they weren’t judgmental.”
More than 1,000 students attended the hour and half show, and the crowd was just as pleased with the comedians as the comedians were with the crowd.
“It met my expectations,” said Johnathon Sellers, a graphic design student from Jacksonville. The 23-year-old said happy to see different students come together for something positive and that enjoyed the quality of the comedians.
Chairman of the Campus Activities Board James Bland was thoroughly impressed with the show.
“I’m very impressed with the first show. We had a good crowd, and I’m excited for the next shows,” said the 20-year-old business administration student from Titusville.
The comedians can be contacted at www.blackcomedytour.com. Students can visit Arvin Mitchell’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/arvinmitchell.