Daemen College : Student Life : Daemen Insight : Michael Ian Black Review
Michael Ian Black Review
By LeAnna Shanks
Photo by LeAnna Shanks©
This year’s featured comedian for Daemen's Homecoming Weekend was Michael Ian Black. Unlike Dave Coulier, who was Daemen’s headliner comedian last year, Black was not afraid to bring out the profanity, politics, and at times risqué topics. Known for his laid back, dry observational comedy, Black deftly introduced each joke by speaking slower than normal -- making the audience anticipate his every word. One never really knows what Black will say, and that makes his comedy even more exciting. Silence occasionally crept in between each topic, leaving the audience chuckling to themselves, remembering the previous joke.
His stories about his children’s disappointing Halloween costumes (pirate and mermaid) and his reluctant adventures in skydiving were most memorable. Those who don’t have children or have never gone skydiving still could relate to his troubles, because his comedic metaphors were easy to understand. One thing that stood out the most was the occasional heckling and booing from the audience, which Black dealt with well, turning those interruptions into humorous musings on booing children and practically everything else.
Black even referenced an article from The INSIGHT at the end of his set, riffing on the different soups not to put on a work of art (!), showing how thoroughly he researched Daemen before his performance here, as we haven’t been in production for very long. Black ended his set with questions from the audience, talking about another State reunion and his favorite cartoon, Phineas and Ferb.
The Wick Social Room holds about 400 people and there were at least 150-200 people there, so the room was packed. The crowd reaction to Black was good for a college show and, in my view, our best comedian yet.
To get more Michael Ian Black, follow him on Twitter, read his blog, or watch his newest show on Comedy Central called Michael and Michael Have Issues airing Wednesdays at 9:30pm.