By Jacqueline Zegler
Student Entertainment Event’s Spring Comedy Show featured a common theme: the University of Maryland.
The annual event, held on April 17 in the Grand Ballroom at the Stamp Student Union, opened with a set by Streeter Seidell, a writer for “Saturday Night Live.” He warmed up the crowd by interacting with various audience members and commenting on various aspects of this university such as immense height of the stands at Maryland Stadium.
He also touched on his history with the school, telling a story about a prank he once pulled on a friend of his at a basketball game. He marveled at the staff’s eagerness to help him pull off the event, humorously calling them “devious, little jerks you all give money to.”
Seidell then introduced Alex Moffat, who slowly walked in front of the stage to thunderous applause. Moffat joined the “SNL” cast in 2016.
In a thick German accent and broken English, he called College Park a “hip town,” commented on the “famous” Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium and pledged his allegiance to President Wallace Loh. He also made comments about President Donald Trump, Billy Bush and the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
“The real villain is Billy Bush. Hot takes,” said Moffat, in a barely decipherable German accent.
While entertaining, his German bit fell somewhat flat with the audience. It was difficult to understand at times, but the English that did come through was met with roaring laughter.
Moffat also did a series of impressions including Christopher Walken, Eric Trump and an over-enthusiastic camp counselor from Perth, Australia.
He then moved on to a piece he called, “Actors Who Barely Know Their Lines.” Moffat misstated famous lines from famous movies such as “When Harry Met Sally,” “Titanic” and “Forrest Gump.” The piece had the potential to be hilarious in a setting like “SNL,” but seemed forced in a stand-up environment.
Moffat finished his set with a musical bit in which he banged on the keys to a portable keyboard and sang “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. It felt like a cheap, last-resort gimmick.
He then introduced former “SNL” castmate and co-headliner, Vanessa Bayer, who left the show in 2017 and holds the record of the longest-serving female cast member.
She talked about her college experiences as a communication major at the University of Pennsylvania and how she went on to work for an ad agency after graduation. However, the highlight of her set was her celebrity impressions.
Bayer was known for her Miley Cyrus and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston’s character on “Friends”) impressions on “SNL” and she did not disappoint in bringing them to the event.
But the rest of her set was not all that exciting and slightly uncomfortable, as if she were holding back.
Toward the end of the night she aired a clip of her internet web series, “Sound Advice,” in which she plays a media coach for celebrities. She also showed her own online dating profile video from over 10 years ago in which she awkwardly and repeatedly describes that she’s looking for “nice men,” and that she “loves to cook.”
SEE’s Spring Comedy Show started off strong but failed to finish that way. The jokes about this university felt more like pandering to the audience than actual comedy, which Moffat admitted when he talked about going to R.J. Bentley’s or Loh’s dwindling popularity with the student body.
Overall, Bayer and Moffat were made for sketch comedy, but not so much stand-up.
Featured Photo Credit: (Left to right) Siedell, Moffat and Bayer performing at SEE’s Spring Comedy Show. (Jacqueline Zegler/Bloc Reporter)
Jacqueline Zegler is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at jzegler@terpmail.umd.edu.
