Comedian Brings Laughs, Loses Steam at EFF

Story by Broadside Staff Writer Dylan Hares. Photo by Danny Jackson.

At this semester’s first Every Freakin’ Friday event, hosted by Program Board, Last Comic Standing’s own Jeff Dye came to George Mason University’s Johnson Center to entertain an eager crowd. By and large, the young newcomer to the comedy game definitely came, saw, and entertained us all.

Since 2003, NBC’s Last Comic Standing has been searching for the best and funniest comedians all across the country. Like many on-air talent competitions, the final prize is a contract for a job with NBC and Comedy Central.

In the summer 2008 season, Dye was one of the five finalists, but didn’t make the cut for the esteemed title of “Last Comic Standing.”

Dye took the stage in the Johnson Center Atrium to a surprisingly large crowd on Friday night. He started with the stereotypical hand, playing the beer, race, and college cards to the young audience.

He made some funny jokes about the people sitting in the “non-committal” seats on the third floor of the Johnson Center and made fun of people who walked by the stage. People seemed to like him and his similarities to the student body.

Dye made some funny jokes about the WNBA, but lost the audience when he started talking about his family and his cat. Possible the funniest thing he said all night was that, even though a self-proclaimed Democrat, he would vote McCain if someone paid him $200.

“Now 200 bucks—that’s change I can believe in,” the comedian said. “I would even vote for Stalin for 200 bucks.”

He talked about the racial qualities of the game Guess Who which made me laugh because it is, in fact, a predominately white game. He made fun of Mario and The Sound of Music which, while juvenile, seemed to go over well with the audience.

Unfortunately, about 45 minutes into the set, he clearly ran out of things to talk about. He started talking more to people walking by the stage, asked some people in the audiences for topics of things to talk about, and started on a whole rant about religion and being a Christian which the audience only merely chuckled at a few times.

Most comics seem to leave their sets on a big bang where they tell one final joke that sends everyone into fits of laughter, but Dye ended his set talking about his CDs, which didn’t really pump up the crowd for a standing ovation.

The downside of Dye’s set was that if the entire crowd had left 45 minutes into the show, they probably would have been more satisfied with the performance if they hadn’t heard the end.

He entertained, but definitely ran out of steam early on. Don’t worry, Jeff. Practice makes perfect.