Seasoned comedians keep audience in stitches

Two comedians put on a hilarious show for their Wilson Hall Auditorium audience. Nearly 350 students certainly got their money's worth as both comedians did uproarious hour long sets.

The first comedian of the night to perform was Adam Ferrara. Armed with a cup of coffee, he immediately began ripping on JMU.

"Do you even have lights here? How do you see each other — do you get candles, or how does this work?" he quipped. After his commentary on visibility, he cracked jokes about coffee creamer and the coffee machine between Keezell and Wilson halls.

He also told an elaborate story on what our "Gen Ed" program entails. He humorously defined the program as where students simply observed "Jen" and "Ed" in order to fulfill their graduation requirements.

Ferrara also recalled stories from his college days, as he shared that he didn't remember too much, but is pretty sure that he took a course entitled "Used," as that was what was written on the majority of his books.

Ferrara's routine also featured many other topics ranging from history to religion, and included his version of how one should handle the tech support for the recent Mars missions. "I am pressing control-alt-delete, and nothing is happening; what more do you want me to do?" Ferrara said.

"To me, there is only one God, and organized religion is merely what long-distance company you choose," Ferrara said, following one of his many jokes aimed at religion.

"Remember, it only took 12 guys to start Christianity, so how hard can it really be?" Ferrara remarked. As religion is sometimes a controversial topic, Ferrara was quick to respond to gasps from the crowd, replying, "What? Are your parents here or something? It is OK to laugh about this stuff."

The show was everything one would expect from a comedian with such an accomplished resumé as Ferrara. His off-the-cuff, intelligent-yet-sometimes-vulgar style of humor has been all over television, and even film, recently. Ferrara is a regular on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "The Late Show with David Letterman" and many Comedy Central specials. He also has appeared on the 300th episode of "Law & Order," had a starring role in the ABC series "The Job" and had a role in the feature film "Ash Tuesday."

Without a doubt, Ferrara thrilled the audience in Wilson Hall. At the show's end, many students left repeating various parts of his act.

Junior Bob Allensworth enjoyed Ferrara's set. "Ferrera's ability to improv kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire show," he said.

After Ferrara's nearly hour-long performance, Mitch Fatel took the stage. Fatel, a short man in an old T-shirt and jeans, delivered all his jokes with a somewhat uncertain and innocent slant to them, as seen with his deliberately nervous and quiet voice. Yet, hidden within his quiet words were some incredibly funny remarks.

"Hi, I am Mitch and I am very funny," Fatel said to begin his act. He soon admitted that he had been fired from the only job he ever had, and was happy to be a comedian. "I was fired from being a dishwasher at Denny's — no dishwasher had ever been fired before; they had no idea how to handle it." This all added to the humor as he spoke in a shy manner, yet behind every self-loathing comment, there also were jokes about how great and funny he believes himself to be.

Fatel admitted that he constantly is looking to get into fights, but men often brush him off because of his height and short stature. "They think I am too cute to fight," he said. Though unsuccessful in skirmishes, Fatel certainly did know how to make the audience of Wilson Hall Auditorium laugh.

"I was standing by someone the other day," Fatel said, "and this guy smelled so bad that I was not offended, but actually impressed." Fatel also spoke on other strange topics such as his love for muffins, his distrust of vegans and many jokes on how he deals with women.

"I could never be a stalker because I have [Attention Deficit Disorder.] I would be up in a tree watching you, but then forget what I was up to after about 10 minutes." It is this creepy, yet sweet style that has won over many audiences for Fatel. He is a regular correspondent for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and has been sent to the two Super Bowls to report back to the show. Fatel also has appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and twice has been a voice on the Comedy Central cartoon "Dr. Katz."

Overall, Fatel put on a hilarious show. Though he did not do anywhere near as many un-rehearsed jokes as Adam Ferrara, his tried-and-true material still entertained the audience.

Ferrara and Fatel already were touring together, and were brought to JMU by the University Program Board. Freshman Jeremy Paredes, director of public relations, said that comedians are brought to JMU annually, and that these two "caught the attention of our staff in particular and, in turn, we sought them out."

Sophomore Katy Prouty said, "I enjoyed the entire show. Though Adam Ferrara did more jokes about JMU, which I liked, Mitch Fatel also made me laugh."