Pera called in from Boston ahead of his stand-up comedy performance which will take place at The Englert Theater on June 14^th. In his quaint and humbled tone, he talked about his favorite bands and music, along with his interactions with music scenes, and the friends he has made from them. He also goes into detail about how both comedy and music performances meld well together, and the aspects of performing.  

Interview has been edited for clarity.

Glab: You’ve expressed before that you have an interest in hardcore music, going to shows, and the energy that it provides. How did you first get into hardcore and punk? 

Joe Pera: I do like it, but it’s not like my number one genre. I’m not going to pretend to be a superfan. Basically though, my friend Dan Licata is a bigger fan of that music and would often take me around to shows. You know, he’d ask if I wanted to go, and I’d go to the shows and enjoy the energy. I don’t know, it feels different than the usual stuff I listen to. Most of the hardcore shows I went to were through Dan Licata.  

Even if you’re not as into hardcore as other people, are there any specific bands that you like. 

Dan featured, they’re not super hardcore, but he had the band, and our friends, Washer score his special. I like their music a lot. 

What kind of music do you listen to most of the time? 

All sorts. I listen to a lot of ambient and instrumental stuff. Somebody recommended the new Elori Saxl album, and I’ve been enjoying the song that’s out from that. The Blue of Distance, with clarinet. I enjoyed that very much as well. But yeah, it’s mostly on the mellower side.  

In Iowa, my friend Dan Wriggins is opening for me. He’s in the band Friendship, whose music I like a lot. One of the guys, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, and his label Dear Life Records has another band called Hour that I performed with recently and will be on tour with soon too. They’re kind of instrumental based. They range anywhere from four members to I think like almost ten or more on certain nights. It’s kind of semi-improvised songs of them playing together. It’s got a pretty gentle and beautiful tone that kind of lets the instruments speak. Those are two that I listen to a lot, but yeah, I’m excited to be on tour with Dan Wriggins as well.  

I knew Dan Wriggins a little because he worked at the university here. I really liked his Friendship stuff, and the solo stuff as well. 

Yeah, I’m not sure what he’ll be playing, but I’m excited to watch him as much as I am to do the shows myself. A lot of the time if you bring someone along that you want to watch as well, then it’s like a free show.  

You mentioned Washer before. How did you come to know Kieran and Quigley? 

Shows in Brooklyn. We kind of met through Dan Licata, and then they would come to me and Dan’s regular show and play sometimes. Just bumping into each other in New York. 

Is there an aspect of their music that you like a lot especially? 

Yeah, I really enjoyed their new album. A lot of the energy, but still very melodic in how they do it, which I appreciate. 

How much have you been within the indie scene in Brooklyn, or the East Coast in general, from like the early 2010’s to now? 

Every now and then. Even when I was at school, I’d occasionally get asked to open for or share a bill with a band a lot of times through Dan Licata. It’s always popped up throughout my time in New York. Bands ask me to open for them, it usually goes pretty well. We’ve done shows with everything from independent venues to larger ones. I’ve also opened for Yo La Tengo at their Hannukah shows in New York. That was pretty special.  

It feels like I’ve been able to continue that type of collaboration or make it more formal with the podcast I do, Drifting Off with Joe Pera. I’ll collaborate with a musician that I admire, and then ask them to score the podcast. But yeah, every now and then I’d be asked to open for a band. A lot of the times the contrast between my quiet style and a louder show can be a lot of fun.  

Do you feel like comedy, or at least your style of comedy mixes well with a live music show? 

It seems to have worked in the past, but I don’t know if it will work everywhere. It’s always a little challenging, especially if people don’t know that comedy is happening. A lot of the times, when I’ll be on the bill, like when I did a show at Baby’s Alright in Brooklyn and opened for a few bands a couple weeks ago, people seem to enjoy it. It’s nice, I think the comedy and the music complement each other well, and kind of keeps the momentum of the show going, like I was going up in between the acts. Generally, I think people who like good music like good comedy as well. They have good tastes across the board. 

Do you yourself have good taste? 

Eh, sometimes.  

I feel like from everything you’ve described, I’m pretty much in agreement. I love Washer, and Yo La Tengo is pretty good.  

Mhm. 

One other band that I love is Parquet Courts, I know you’ve collaborated with them before with their Feel Free album visualizer, and you’re in the “Outside” music video filmed at the Knockdown Center.  

Yeah, they had me open for them at their holiday show the year before the album came out. They had me tell some jokes, and that was pretty intimidating since it was such a large room. But the fans I think are comedy fans too. A lot of the musicians like watching comedy, obviously, I can’t generalize, but like Sean Yeaton, the bassist of Parquet Courts, we have some mutual friends, and he’s also a very funny guy. We both had done voices for our animator friend Kieran O’Hare, who did the original “Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep” animation with me. Sean’s friends with him and has done some really good voices, he’s extremely funny himself. That’s how we connected. I guess I mostly know Sean, but he’s a really funny guy, and that’s probably why he has good taste in comedy. Also, I think that a lot of people who go to shows, if they want to see live entertainment, they’ll check out a share of music and comedy shows if they’re out and about in the city. 

In the “Outside” video you had the Christmas tree, what was that about? 

I knew I had to perform for like a thousand people, ready to see a rock show. So, I did some jokes, but also I had fun. It was a holiday show, so I picked up a small Christmas tree on my way to the venue. I tossed it to the crowd, and they crowd surfed this tree, pretty funny. I guess a music crowd would be open for something unusual like that. It’s also something I couldn’t do at a stand-up club. I was just trying to match the energy of the space and the event, and it led to something cool. 

Was that your first time performing to that many people? 

One of the first big performances I did. I had just made my own Christmas special and was tired out. I hadn’t been doing as much standup in the weeks leading up to it. I just remember that night that I was talking to somebody, and then I went out on stage, and it hit me all of a sudden. I don’t remember the exact number, but it felt like at least 500, maybe a thousand. It’s such a big space that I kind of had to brace myself, because it was a pretty large crowd to ask them to pay attention to jokes about New Balances. 

Now would you say it’s a pretty common occurrence to perform to that many people? 

Yeah, I’ve gotten more used to it. We started the last tour where we set some dates at 150-200 people venues, which is what I was doing before, but I guess a lot of people found the TV show during the pandemic when they wanted something relaxing and nice to watch. I guess I didn’t anticipate the crowd, my audience, would grow that much. Now the shows I’m doing in Boston are for a thousand people, and I think the ones in Iowa are about 600-700. 

Yeah, I think The Englert’s at about that capacity. 

Yeah, pretty good size. I don’t know if I’ll fill it, but I’ll do my best. 

I was looking at the ticketing recently, and it seems pretty much almost full. I think the upper balcony has some open spots, but they sold really quickly. 

That’s awesome. I’m very excited. That’s very cool to know. The only time I performed in Iowa before was at the Hinterland Festival, so I haven’t been through recently. You have to go through a place a few times to get an audience. That was a music festival too. I didn’t know how that was going to go. I performed basically the end of the Billy Strings concert, which was the big event of the night.  

Afterwards, I performed for the people who were staying overnight in the camping section. I was nervous about that because it was both an outdoor stage, and everybody was in an energetic mood. It went really well. There were huge clouds of weed smoke floating my way the entire show. The audience gathered around the stage outside and it was pretty special. Definitely had a sigh of relief when it ended, but it was a really fun night, and the crowd turned out to be really great. Like I said, I think people who go to live music shows are open to new stuff. You know, it won’t necessarily go well all the time, but they’ll give you some smart attention at least for a little while, and give you the chance to win them over. 

Do you think that doing comedy sets is pretty similar to how musicians in their sets match the energy of the audience? 

Yeah, it’s not the same for all musicians. I know some of them are adjusting throughout their set. I think I have a little more flexibility as a solo performer. Like if I feel that something’s not working, or I need to do a quick adjustment during the set, or you know throw in the joke that’d hit harder to up the energy. I’ll be able to make adjustments on the fly and change my set completely, or even just talk with the audience in a way that the musician wouldn’t have the luxury to do. I feel like that’s the advantage of doing comedy live over music. There’s also plenty of musicians who adjust. When they’re having a bad show, they can also get stuck when it’s not going well. There’s pros and cons to each. 

It’s all a very receptive activity. 

Mhm. 

Is there anything else you wanted to say? 

Just I’m really looking forward to performing in Iowa again. This time indoors. Dan Wriggins is going to be there, so I think it’ll be another good show with both comedy and music. You know, it’ll feel like a proper night out on the town. 

Anything that people in Iowa City can come to expect at the show? 

It’s all new material, different from my special. It’s all new jokes. It’s at the point of the tour where all the material is new and fresh for me as well. It’s really exciting to see. I think it’s a good show, but there’s some stuff that I’m still figuring out, and I think that’s the most fun time to see a show, when it’s still forming. When you’re not sure how it’s going to go, that’s more fun. 

Tickets to see Joe Pera at The Englert Theater on June 14th are available here.

The post Interview: Joe Pera Goes to Shows with You appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Spencer Loucks acts as both a comedian and host for the night. His standup is more self-disclosing, both with anecdotes and observations. He makes jokes at the expense of the audience, but his smile betrays a lack of malice. One can’t help but compare his infliction to John Mulaney at certain times. Even after his set, as Loucks introduces the next comedian, his warmth is still present.

Aloe Mean is next. He tends to remain stationary but his voice, smooth and steady, pulls the listener in. He turns both inward and outward for his material, though one cannot forget that his set begins with the humble introduction, “My name is Aloe… like the plant.”

The third comedian is Eric/Nancy Persoon. They wear an impressive witch’s hat, adding to their already towering height. Persoon’s strategy for audience interaction is to pace the outskirts of the stage and maintain intense eye contact with specific audience members as they deliver their set with a magnetic intensity. They question the crowd’s lack of energy (a valid inquiry, as there is yet to be a group consensus on what’s funny and what is not). They talk about pop culture, such as the procreating agenda in How to Train Your Dragon 3, football, and gender. The material feels better suited for a younger crowd, as I know some college students who would be very interested in hearing Persoon’s five minutes on gender neutral Pokémon jokes. Still, they give it their all, and their commitment is admirable: who else would write the word “basement” on their chest before the show begins in order to provide a visual aid? Better yet, who pulls a second White Claw out of their cat-faced fanny pack mid-set? An inspiration, truly.

Meredith Kachel deserves credit for bringing the audience to life. She is quick to establish report, charming immediately with the question “are we a sleepy college town or do we all wanna kill ourselves?” Kachel is also quick to call her own brain out now that she is a month into being engaged. With an equal give and take of teasing, she launches in on her material. She tackles the subject of her cousin, Gillian, who she impersonates with a nasally Barbie impression and a fist resting on her hip. Everyone who leaves the Comedy Showcase will remember (at least for two days) that Meredith Kachel’s cousin Gillian named her baby in order to obtain the initials of Buffalo Wild Wings. Kachel’s delivery benefits from being willing to shout away from the microphone. Her material on rich people, and how she fits into the equation by entering affluent houses, is what gets the audience to finally realize that they are at a comedy show. When she leaves the stage, the energy is palpable for the first time in the night.

Next is Arish Singh. He calls the audience out by beginning their set with a racism-themed joke, then stating “that’s my impression of what people want me to say at a comedy show.” He is also quick to call out the lone heckler, a wobbly Jack Sparrow, who stumbles in during his set. This hint of willingness to go to the mat blazes beneath his neutral face as he goes into his set. His material is more politically oriented, as he discusses Justin Trudeau’s blackface, Bernie Sanders (“I’m tired of him yelling at me… I wish he would just spit in my mouth already”) and Ilhan Omar. There is a barrage of puns in the middle of Singh’s set, which he delivers with no relish. Ending on one last note of confrontation, the audience is keyed into the momentum, just in time for the last comedian.

Cameron Gillette needs to be witnessed. He carries himself with the physical expression of someone doing improv, and his animation is captivating. There’s one dip if you know to listen for it, when he tells a joke that has appeared on the internet before, but beyond that, his material is only describable as “zany.” One minute, he talks about being a contemporary blues artist, the next minute, he mentions having been to jail. The last joke is by far the most elaborate: what starts with a simple premise of “what did the butt say to the boobs” turns into proving that time travel is real, only to find out from a piece of paper taped beneath a table, “everyone in the future is dead.”

The sets combine into an eclectic range of delivery and topics, and when the lights come back up, you are still somehow in your uncle’s weird basement.

The post Witching Hour: Comedy Showcase @ The Mill 11/1 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

There are few comedians that have left such an impact on comedy as Carlin. He told jokes that tore down the social barriers that society creates for us. He loved to lift the curtain of these barriers and show everyone the ridiculous wizard behind them. I know many older readers know Carlin as a household name, but to many young readers and people from my generation he may be faceless.

I remember being shocked as a kid by two traits of Carlin’s. One: I had never heard some of those cuss words he was saying, let alone how often he was saying them. Two: I never heard someone make people laugh by just standing up on stage and yelling things you find true at people and get a laugh.

George Carlin was introduced to me at a very early age, which if you know anything about Mr. Carlin’s work, that may not have been a great decision. Carlin’s material, crude in some natures, would tackle subjects like politics, race, and religion with an artful form. He would make broad and outlandish claims and through his wide vocabulary and argument you would be right at his side laughing.

Carlin was a man who loved to make others laugh. He was always self-proclaimed “Class Clown”. His comedy started in the late 60s and he performed up till his death in 2008. His work is very famous due to its ability to take a very dark and cutting look at things, and bring them front and center.

He gets his laughs due to his great way of expressing the anger people are feeling at that time in words. His humor might not have worked in today’s world, but during his time, his comedy gave a voice to the frustration of the time. His comedy came out in great strength after great draw backs in our nation, such as the War in Vietnam, President Nixon’s Resignation, and 9/11.

Carlin had the skill to dive into a topic and find a truth in it. He used humor to tear into these conversations, and sometimes they came out as rage filled rants. All of them said something sincere about the that moment in time and how many were feeling.

Check the links below for some of George Carlin’s Work.

Religion is Bulls**t

Stuff

George Carlin on Muhammed Ali and the Vietnam War

The post Ozzy’s Spotlight – George Carlin appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Jay Pharoah took the stage tonight at The Englert with both electric energy and genuine emotions for the idols of his past. I have been a fan of Jay Pharoah since I first saw him on SNL years back and was very excited to hear he was coming to town. His comedy icon Eddy Murphy definitely influences his comedy and it is a style not seen that often in today’s comedy culture. Pharoah’s comedy also comes from his great skill for impersonating celebrities such as Eddy Murphy, Kanye, Kevin Hart, President Barack Obama and countless more.

The night was fill with a atmosphere of hilarious antidotes and moments of great love. Pharoah often would take a break as say just facts and truths, such as police brutality in America and what Trump’s America is. He spoke of loving and acceptance, this created a really sweet space to hear comedy.  The parts I was very surprised by and I loved the most where they moments of sincere love and emotion. Jay Pharoah was in the middle of an intimate story about his mentor Charlie Murphy (Who recently passed away) when he was interrupted by some annoying audience’s members cell phone ringtone. I was disappointed because Pharoah was starting what seemed to be a very important and life changing moment in his life when he was told his mentor passed away. Seeing this kind of raw emotion on stage during a comedy show was very out of the normal and I saw it as something special we were about to share in but sadly due to the constant bullshit of cell phones during shows, we’ll never have that moment again.

I don’t want to set this comedy show as an emotional hour, it was filled with funny stories of Pharoah’s experiences with Night Clubs, his travels overseas, and his hilarious views on marriage and childhood.The opener, AJ Foster is a young up and coming comedian that I can see great promise for. Foster’s honest commentary and quirky stories complimented Pharoah’s stage presence very well and I can see why he tours with Pharoah often.

All in all, this show very entertaining and definitely one to remember. It was almost two hours long and it was packed with content. Pharoah’s charisma and energy made the time go so it was smooth and something to greatly enjoy. This kind of stand up scene is what should keep growing in this city because there is definitely an audience for it.

For really funny/interesting videos of Jay Pharoah look below for some of my favorites.

Jay Pharoah Drops A 6 Minute Freestyle!!

Principal Frye: Hell-oween Ball – SNL

Jay Pharoah Has a Staring Contest While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones

Jay Pharoah Impersonates Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, Will Smith + More

The post Jay Pharoah @ The Englert Theatre 5/11/18 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

John Mulaney is a comedian whose humor will entertain you throughout your life. His honest stories about his childhood, married life, and social anxieties will hit a cord with most. He has strong dry humor that will have you laughing when you first hear it and still laughing when you think about it days later.

Mulaney is a comedian who has a true gift for creating a strong universal image of situations and people we have all met. He observational humor is also a very be attribute to his comedy. His views on how insane the plot to 1985’s Back to the Future sounds insane from the outside looking in or childhood fears of quicksand being a bigger threat when growing up.

John Mulaney wrote on SNL for 6 seasons, stared in the short-lived Fox sitcom Mulaney, and currently voices animated characters in the Netflix show Big mouth. A show where they show the awkward horrors of going through puberty. A lot of people have enjoyed this raunchy animated comedy but I have yet to start it. The voice acting includes actors such as Nick Kroll, Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele and Jenny Slate.

John Mulaney is also known for his two-man act called, Oh, Hello on Broadway. A show where Mulaney and friend, Nick Kroll, portray two late-middle age men who are from the upper Westside of Manahan. In this play, we see Gil Faizon (Kroll) and George St. Geegland (Mulaney) finally hit it big with a Broadway show.

This show is a fever dream of fourth wall breaking, theater troupes mocking, tuna sandwich hurricane. In this show, they break the fourth wall because of the plot. The premise is George has written a play about two very similar middle age men’s lives and while they act out the play George and Gil get into “real” arguments and cause their play to be derailed.

This show is so much fun because Mulaney and Kroll improvise a lot of the time during this show. So sometimes throughout the show, you see a very real reaction from the others actions. This makes it something truly funny and makes the show have a really unique feel.

Seeing this dysfunctional friendship between these two men is hysterical and I definitely recommend it to people looking for a great thing to watch. To watch Oh Hello on Broadway it is currently streaming on Netflix. Click Here for the Trailer.

John Mulaney also has 3 comedy albums which are all on Apple Music and Spotify. His albums are The Top Part, New In Town, and The Comeback Kid.

These shows are also streaming on Netflix. These albums were what I listened to a lot over the last 3 years. His bit has some great laughs and will always crack me up.

Truly one of my favorites from Mulaney’s list of bits is the “Salt and Pepper Dinner” off his 2009 album The Top Part. In this bit, he tells a story about how as a child, a friend and himself played Tom Jones’ What’s new Pussycat, 21 times at a local dinner and watched the customers lose their minds over the overpayment of the song.  Click Here to listen to this joke.

John Mulaney is a great new comedian who I feel more people should know. He has influenced my writing and comedy and is truly a great comedic figure of this current time. For more clips of his comedy please look to the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sd4CRcaE0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uD-akXggZA

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Tonight I got the privilege of watching Aparna Nancherla on stage after seeing her on talk shows, Amy Schumer’s Inside Amy Schumer and TV shows like Master of None.

And she’s shyer than I ever knew. She came out on stage with a blue cardigan atop a dress decked in birds. She walks with her hands by her sides, and she looks down to the left speaker near her feet during her entire show.

When she does look up, you know its a moment you’re going to burst. She conditioned me so that when she lifted her eyes to the balcony during the show, I knew she was about to declare a killer line that would leave the Englert loud.

Nancherla makes shy jokes, too, like her FOMO: Fear Of Missing In. “I wonder what my apartment is doing while I’m gone” and her need to keep her coat on during parties so that she can make a quick escape, and keep warm since, you know, she runs a little cold. “I love to wear enough layers where people go, ‘does she have a figure at all?’”

When she finally did make a political joke, she apologised for it which only made the crowd laugh harder knowing how rare it was for her to come outright and say it. 

Nancherla ends her set with a hilarious powerpoint including excerpts of emoji issues, her parents texts to her, and online dating screenshots.

But perhaps the most laughter in the crowd came from her simply reading off absurd Yelp reviews in her own tone.

You cant help but have a good and wholesome time at Nancherla’s show. Most of her jokes were clean, and honest, two things that can be more rare than ever in today’s comedic scene.

The post Witching Hour: Aparna Nancherla @ The Englert 10/21/17 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Friday night 37 year-old actor, screenwriter, producer, and more importantly, stand-up comedian Nick Swardson came to Iowa City for his sold out show.

The CAB comedy show was originally scheduled to take place on Friday December 13th, 2013, but due to unspecified conflicts, the show took place Friday January 24th in the Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge at 10 pm.

Swardson is best known for his writing and roles in films and TV shows like: Grandma’s Boy, Malibu’s Most Wanted, Benchwarmers, Reno 911!, Just Go With It, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Nick started out doing stand up comedy at the very early age of 18 and began making a name for himself in the Minnesota comedy scene.

But before Mr. Swardson graced the stage with his new material, comedian and opener Josh Mann took the stage. While Mann truly did make me laugh on multiple occasions, his material overall lacked originality. It seemed as though the less rehearsed the jokes were, the better the reaction from the audience, (Such as his jokes involving the Ped Mall). His stage presence was awkward at best, mainly due to his incessant sipping of an unidentified Starbucks beverage. His demeanor was somewhat off-putting and definitely did not help the delivery of his material at all. All in all I have to say I wasn’t impressed with Josh Mann.

As disappointed as many may have been with the opener, that quickly changed for the better when Minnesota native Nick Swardson took the stage. Greeted by a roar rather than applause, Swardson took the stage with his classic funny man swagger. Dressed in a Young & Reckless t-shirt and snap back, along with neon Nikes and blue jeans, he greeted the audience by shouting, “What the fuck is up Iowa City?!”.  If such language is bothersome to you, then Swardson’s act was definitely not for you. Like many stand up comedians, most of his jokes were somewhat vulgar and profanity saturated. I say that in the most complementary way possible, because literally he had me in tears. His material covered a wide range of topics. Anything from cats, to the first man to experience a brain freeze, to ice skaters with diarrhea, were all fair game. The material was relatable and original in every way possible, and the crowd loved it.

Check out a pic a UI student snapped at the show by clicking on the Tweet below. Nick then retweeted it to his 500,000+ followers:

“@nellym2011: First row in Iowa City! @nickswardson Throw me a retweet. #IOWA pic.twitter.com/O1axpZyGmd” am I albino? Wtf? Haha

— Nick Swardson (@NickSwardson) January 25, 2014

Like any comedy venue, the IMU Main Lounge had it’s share of hecklers, which Swardson handled like a real pro. One young woman, got irrationally upset when Swardson was a telling a joke involving a woman performing oral sex. She yelled from the back of the room in a moment of silence, “Women are not objects!”. To this Nick responded jokingly with “No, you’re just alcoholics.” and then proceeded to tell more jokes aimed at women to make a hilarious point. Again, those sensitive to such topics are advised to avoid Swardson’s shows, because he is crude and fully proud of it. I completely enjoyed his set, along with the hundreds of others in the IMU Main Lounge. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and delivered much more than our money’s worth.

Swardson seemed to return the pleasant sentiment with the Tweet following the show you can read below:

Iowa U was dope. Such a fun crowd w/ great energy and some hammered folks. Love ya! Driving out to Des Moines tonight. Rain check the party

— Nick Swardson (@NickSwardson) January 25, 2014

To keep tabs on Nick, like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

The post Nick Swardson Brings Colossal Laughs to IMU appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Disclaimer: This review contains content unsuitable for minors, work situations, and the well mannered. Read at the risk of being offended.

Bo Burnham is no stranger to Iowa City. In 2010 he had a show at The Englert Theatre, and in 2012 he had another show at Englert Theatre. Last night Bo returned once again to the IMU Main Lounge, with brand new material in his fourth comedic tour, the “what.” Tour.

For those unaware, Bo Burnham is a musical comedic sensation who gained a fan-base via YouTube in 2006. His popularity grew over the years, and in August 2008 he became the youngest comedian to record a Comedy Central comedy special, just four days shy of his 18th birthday. His first CD was released in 2009, and has since released a second, and in the process of recording his third, What. Recently he filmed the first season of his MTV show, “Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous”, in which he stars, writes and produces. The first episode premiered last Thursday night, (watch the first full episode here), and 11 more episodes of season 1 are set to air Thursday nights at 9:30 central.

People, (mainly UI students), lined the street outside the IMU waiting to see Bo. Some people had been waiting for so long that they were working on homework while waiting for the 7pm doors. Loyal Bo Burnham fans.

Opening comedian Drew Lynch had me laughing through the entirety of his set. Not one of his jokes flopped and I was highly impressed with his bravery. Lynch has a verbal stutter due to a sports accident involving his vocal chords, yet still is an amazing comedian and stand-up performer. Check out his stand-up here.

After Lynch’s act, Bo Burnham hit the stage. He opened the show with a funny, but bizarre five-minute-long narrated introduction. It included dancing, singing, magic tricks, 40 seconds of “prolonged eye contact” with an audience member in front of him, and shouting “Fuck you!” to the front row.

The first song he played was called #Deep,  a new song from his upcoming album, and followed it with the most hilarious and vulgar “love poem” you’ve ever heard titled “I Fuck Sluts”.

One thing that must be said about Bo Burnham is that he is undoubtedly unique with both his verbal and physical comedy. A short list of the outrageous things Burnham did on stage would include throwing bouncy balls at the crowd (unexpectedly), simulating masturbation, pulling a cloud of rainbow glitter out of his pocket, and telling a joke in slow motion.

No one can argue that Bo Burnham is not talented in any aspect, and I was pleasantly surprised by his ability to play the keyboard. I also was surprised that some of his comedic songs and material had some serious underlying commentary on actual issues like religion, gay rights, and shallowness of the music industry.

Bo closed the show with a hilarious new song he recently wrote, which he described as “a song from the perspective of God.”

But after he exited the stage, Bo came back on stage and performed two of his classic and highly popular songs, “Love Is . . .” and “OH BO”. During “Love Is . . .” he changed the Anne Frank lyric to “. ..like Anne Frank wanted to be a Belieber.” Which the crowd went crazy for, and even earned a laugh from Bo himself as he delivered it. He also spent some time talking to the crowd, and thanking them for coming out on a Tuesday night. He exited the stage saying “If you liked what I did, my name’s Bo Burnham  If you didn’t like what I did, my name’s Kendrick Lamar.” To which the crowd responded with applause and a standing ovation.

After the show both Drew and Bo waited to meet and take pictures with every single fan that lined up, (which was a couple hundred roughly). When I met Bo I asked him, “What did you think of Iowa City and the crowd?” and he responded with, “Iowa City is amazing.  Been here three times in three years, always fun. They’re great. Very patient, they listen, they’re loud and excited. It’s great. So in conclusion, I hate it.” He kept his humorous answers going when I asked him about his plans to return to Iowa City, “Uh when I have new material  It might take me ten years but. . ” Lastly I asked him how I should end my article about his show, so here you go Bo. What ever you want.

To stay updated with Bo’s stand-up and his new show on MTV, follow him on Twitter.

To read reporter Eric Moore’s one-on-one interview with Bo after the show, click here.

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