jake and amir
Jake and Amir, CollegeHumor comedians, hosted the College Humor Live tour in Hoff Theater on Tuesday. Photo by Andi Hubbell for The Writers’ Bloc.

By Andi Hubbell

Staff Writer

Last night’s comedy show in Hoff Theater, featuring CollegeHumor comedians Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld, epitomized the raunchy brand of humor that young adults find irresistible.

The five comedians in the SEE-hosted event’s lineup reenacted outrageous scenarios and recited obscene jokes in the interest of upholding the show’s theme — college humor. While the event’s hosts, Hurwitz and Blumenfeld, offered an altogether crude, tasteless performance, three additional performers crafted well-executed, relevant routines, proving that raunchiness and intelligence can comfortably coexist.

The show’s opening act, senior Mason Trappio, enraptured the audience by incorporating UMD-specific jokes into his seamless routine. Trappio repeatedly referred to UMD’s rivalry with Duke, sparking laughter and applause each time he muttered “F*** Duke.”

Trappio also recanted his frustrating experiences as a biology major and shared his comical observations of the courtship process on campus.

“I’m gonna put on my collared shirt with stripes, plaid shorts and f***ing boat shoes and get some girls,” he said, scoffing at guys trying to pick up girls on campus.

After Trappio concluded his 25-minute routine, Hurwitz and Blumenfeld took the stage, posing a contrast to Trappio’s subtle, understated stage presence. The pair quickly demonstrated that the on-screen chemistry they maintain in their CollegeHumor sketch videos does not transfer to the stage.

The comedians attempted to recreate the schtick from their Jake and Amir videos, in which the eccentric Blumenfeld is an annoying burden for Hurwitz to contend with. While Blumenfeld exhibited a mildly natural stage presence, with self-deprecating, Hurwitz appeared rigid and uncomfortable onstage. He responded to Blumenfeld’s over-the-top, typically vulgar jokes with mechanical, unoriginal retorts or bland anecdotes about Blumenfeld’s irritating tendencies. The twosome bantered about diarrhea, penis size and Blumenfeld’s “F***-it List” (as opposed to bucket list) and eventually entered a rap battle in which Blumenfeld delivered his sole noteworthy performance of the night.

After several minutes, the hosts introduced comedian Michael Blaustein. Although Blaustein’s performance initially appeared to be a mere extension of Hurwitz and Blumenfeld’s vulgar antics as he discussed the trials of being adorable and having to worry about “getting raped by a gay man,” Blaustein ultimately proved to possess a distinctive, powerful stage presence.

With his booming voice and expert use of physical humor, Blaustein got the audience engaged in his outrageous stories about dating and sex, describing his dull-but-attractive ex-girlfriend and his emotional reaction to music during sex.

“[It’s like] our souls are connected … they’re dancing in a bed of chocolate raisins,” he said blissfully as he feigned having sex.

Following a brief and unremarkable exchange between Hurwitz and Blumenfeld, Streeter Seidell, another CollegeHumor comedian, performed. Seidell employed the same strategy as Trappio to capture the audience’s attention, reflecting on his experiences as a fat kid in college and the magic of sex.

“I gained the freshman 15 every f***ing year,” he said.

Seidell continued to poke fun at his own former weight issues, prompting laughter as he discussed his previous unwillingness to be on top during sex. Although Seidell’s performance was not quite as notable as Trappio and Blaustein’s, his routine was nonetheless far more original than that of Hurwitz and Blumenfeld.

In spite of Hurwitz and Blumenfeld’s failure to produce a distinctive, tasteful routine, fans of the pair’s Jake and Amir videos enjoyed their performance.

“I am a huge Jake and Amir fan,” said freshman Megan O’lone. “I didn’t find out about [the show] until a couple of days ago and I just thought it was awesome that it was free and here at Maryland.”

Freshman Lorena Kowalewski, who doesn’t watch Hurwitz and Blaustein’s Jake and Amir videos, appreciated the entire lineup for its raunchy humor.

“They were all really good. They were all really vulgar. It’s funny,” she said. “I thought they aimed it to the crowd well.”

The show demonstrated that while college students have a common, inherent attraction to all things outrageous, they have a choice between consuming cleverly raunchy media and altogether vulgar material. Students should take heed that it’s not necessarily what you digest, but how you digest it, that determines whether you’re absorbing art or garbage.


4 responses to “College Humor Live reveals students’ raunchy tastes”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    This article was extremely rude considering Jake and Amir were looking extremely awesome tonight. They did what they do best, Amir acts like a fucking idiot and Jake ruthlessly makes fun of him. Also everyone knows that college humor is directed towards college kids, so their humor is going to be raunchy and inappropriate. You are on a college campus, so if you dont want to hear funny jokes that were sometimes crude then you should probably transfer to UMBC. That is all.

    1. Leanne Avatar
      Leanne

      This article isn’t rude at all. It is an honest review of an event that gives both positives and negatives. It praised many aspects of the show and never said that it was bad or that people didn’t like it. It simply stated that Jake and Amir’s jokes were not as well performed on stage as online, and that the other performer’s jokes, while still being as raunchy, were more intelligent and well thought out. Th reviewer still, clearly enjoyed the show, and did what she was supposed to do for a review. If you don’t completely agree with the author that’s fine, but you are the one being rude by telling her to transfer to another school just because she didn’t enjoy every single aspect of a comedy show.

  2. anonymous Avatar
    anonymous

    no one said that they didn’t like the jokes…….

  3. hubbellae Avatar

    This piece doesn’t contest that college students shouldn’t or don’t appreciate raunchy humor. It simply contends that during last night’s event, Blumenfeld and Hurwitz were upstaged by the more intelligent humor employed by their fellow comedians.

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