BYU–Hawaii students flocked to the Seasider in the late afternoon of Feb. 28 and were treated to a night of laughs from their fellow classmates.
Eli Harris, a senior from Missouri majoring in English, performed at Seasider Comedy Night last semester, but chose to sit this semester out and be a member of the audience. Harris said, “I didn’t have enough material planned out just yet, and wanted to focus on my performance in ‘The Pirates of Penzance.’
“But I’m still here to be supportive of the people doing standup. There’s a lot you can tell about a person just by the humor they have to share.”
Harris elaborated, “Last semester I spent almost two months working on my material with my friends Rebecca and Nathan. My style of comedy I would describe as 'the storyteller.’ I would take something super relatable to other people and then find a way to make it funny.
“It's good the Seasider hosts this because there aren't a whole lot of places around here for an LDS comedian to go to.”
Sara Nelson, a sophomore from Utah majoring in peacebuilding, performed first. She said she was studying both psychology and peacebuilding. She joked, “So when I graduate, I’ll be graduating with at least one real degree.” This was followed by a huge laugh from the Seasider audience.
Nelson’s stand-up continued, “This one time, I was blessed with this opportunity to ride first class, and I never wanted to ride coach again. The flight attendants are like, eight times nicer. They ask if you want a glass of water. And they give it to you in these fancy crystal glass cups, even before they let the coach passengers on the plane.
“Coach is just a dirty word now. I’m trying to decide on my rich person laugh. I can’t decide which one so I just try a combination of both.”
She then demonstrated her two pompous “rich” laughs and received an uproar of laughter. Later she joked how her real goal in life was to become a trophy wife.
The next impromptu comedian Cameron Mairs, a junior from New York majoring in computer science, was called up. His girlfriend, the announcer, dubbed him “the best boyfriend ever” as he took the stage. Immediately Mairs noted the emptiness of the front rows and how he would have brought his own little crowd. He assured the audience that “the front row seats are all reserved for the ghosts of my ancestors.”
Mairs began his real routine by asking the audience a rhetorical question, “Why do all TV news reporters sound exactly the same?” He proceeded to speak several generic news reports in a monotone voice, and remarked how anyone who talked with a similar voice could be taken seriously.
“I’m from New York,” Mairs began. “And in New York, we love our food. We as New Yorkers are super snobby about our pizza. I tolerate Dominos and Pizza Hut. But I say, ‘the more health code violations, the better’. It makes them even more trustworthy. I want my pizza to come from the bottom of a sweaty Italian man’s heart.”
Mairs made more jokes about the food in the eastern United States by talking about lobster in Massachusetts. “Lobster used to be served as prison food, probably because the guards didn’t know what they were missing and let the prisoners eat well.
“I went to Massachusetts not too long ago, and nothing sounded better than lobster. Here they cook the lobster in butter. I was extremely underwhelmed. The guy eating with me told me I had to dip the lobster into even more butter. And then I was supposed to dip the buttered lobster into the buttered bread into butter.”
Mairs wrapped up his routine with several more jokes about housing and the different cultures which made up BYUH, before receiving applause from the seated audience.
The attendees were informed it was the end of the comedy night, which would be ending a bit earlier than normal, but that they were free to come up onstage. They were also invited to give a round of applause for the Seasider staff.
Writer: Elijah Hadley