“To get some serious laughs” is comedian Stephen Mayeux’s mission for tonight’s edition of LSU’s Last Comic Standing.
“Who doesn’t like to laugh?” Mayeux said.
The Union Program Council will host the comedy show tonight in the Student Union.
“It’s just going to be a fun night and a funny night,” said John Starr, Student Union program coordinator.
Last Comic Standing, which starts at 7 p.m. in the Union Ballroom, is the first University competition for local and student comedians to “come out and compete and show us what they’ve got,” Starr said.
Tanesha Craig, UPC Music and Mayhem chair, said the UPC created Last Comic Standing because of the lack of opportunities for Baton Rouge comedians to show their talent.
“Hopefully it can be a tradition,” Craig said. “Students should come and experience something that has never happened before.”
The competition will feature nine local comedians, including some students, who have each participated in a prior audition.
During the auditions, comedians were judged on stage presence, creativity and material, Craig said.
“If we laughed and found [them] funny and thought people would find [them] funny, we picked them,” Starr said.
The competition will be hosted by the acclaimed comedian Rip Michaels. Michaels has appeared on BET’s “Comic View,” Jamie Foxx’s “Laffapalooza,” “Showtime at the Apollo,” P. Diddy’s “Bad Boys of Comedy” and MTV’s “Punk’d.”
“[Michaels] talks about so many different topics that really relate to the college student,” Craig said.
Before the competition begins, Michaels will do his own comedy set.
The competition will be judged by four successful local comedians: Jeremy White, who publishes Red Shtick Magazine; Knick Moore, who writes for Red Shtick Magazine; Howard Hall, who performs locally and was named a Fresh Face in Urban Comedy at Jamie Foxx’s “Laffapalooza;” and James Brown, who is part of the local improvisation group “The Family Dinner.”
“It’s a place for successful local comedians to come in and mold new comedians into the comedians they can become,” Starr said.
However, the four judges will not choose the competition’s winner. While they will give critiques and advice to each comedian, the audience will decide the winner by applause.
“Comedy brings together so many different types of people,” Mayeux said. “We take ourselves too seriously and argue about dumb stuff, and [comedy] is great because you take taboo subjects and shrink them to a manageable size, point at them and laugh at them and realize how ridiculous they really are.”
Last Comic Standing will be held in the Union Ballroom. Admission is free.
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Contact Blake Stephens at bstephens@lsureveille.com