Hangin’ with Mr. Curry

Casey Templeton / staff photographer Comedian Mark Curry ("Hangin' With Mr. Cooper") humors the audience with his jokes and classic facial expressions in WIlson Hall Auditorium Monday night. After the show, Curry took the time to do a question-and-answer session with an enthusiastic audience.

Bicoastal comedy came to Wilson Hall Auditorium as Mark Curry and Greg Rogell took hold of a bottle of water and a wireless mic with the noble aspiration of bringing amusement to a college campus on a Monday night.

Unfortunately, Wilson was less than full — Rogell, a New York City native, said another 800 audience members could be fit into the 80-something-year-old venue. "What a glorious waste of space this is," he said.

Mixing a cocky swagger with a neurotic tone, Rogell traversed topics ranging from his ineptitude at ever traveling in space to his quest to learn what happens to rat poison after it passes its expiration date. "What happens, does it become delicious?" he said.

Luckily for the audience, something funny happened to both comedians on their way to JMU. Curry and Rogell stepped into the stereotypical as they riffed on the airline industry’s seemingly unending infatuation with peanuts.

Their airplane jokes seemed to signal a need for generally accepted comedy show reform. Comedians and audience members alike need to make some changes for the greater good of entertainment. On the comedians’ side, it should be said that Michael Jackson is now off-limits — not because it would be in poor taste but rather because it has been done to death.

There is nothing new to be said about Jackson and sadly, as both Rogell and Curry proved, two decades of jokes have tapped this poor sap dry. If comedians would be willing to lay jokes about monkey molestation and questionable parenting to rest, the audience may be willing to look the other way when the comedian talks about the unfortunate size of an airplane restroom.

But overdone jokes aside, the stylish Curry impressed the audience by tackling the too-often taboo subject of what a crackhead no doubt goes through on Halloween. Curry also was able to connect with the audience not only by asking for topics, but also by taking the time for a question-and-answer session following his set. It seemed as though he did not want to leave the stage — he took hold of it for nearly two hours.

Curry and Rogell sometimes bordered on overdone jokes, but in the end came out on top. Be it the soft-spoken Rogell discussing how he would like to be rich enough to be a Republican someday, or Curry talking about taking his Hennesy-filled sisters to Disneyland, the pair showed you can be short and white or tall and black and still make people laugh.