SUA offers pizza with free comedy show

By Brandon Sayers

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Students will be able to get free pizza and a free comedy show tonight at the third annual Pizza & a Comedian event.

What: Pizza & a Comedian

When: Tonight at 6:30

Where: Hashinger Theater

Student Union Activities is organizing the event, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in Hashinger Theater at Hashinger Hall. During the event, students will be able to vote for their favorite pizza in Lawrence and see comedian Dan Cummins perform stand-up comedy from his upcoming Comedy Central special. The event will be opened by Those People, a student group that will be performing improv comedy.

Jabiz Behzadpour, special events coordinator for SUA, said Pizza & a Comedian was one of the most popular annual events that the group organized. At last year’s event, comedian Sabrina Jalees performed and students voted Pizza Shuttle the best in Lawrence.

“Last year, Hashinger Theater was full at a maximum capacity of 300 people, and there was still a line of people wanting to get in after the show had started,” Behzadpour said.

This year’s featured comedian is Dan Cummins, a stand-up comic whose work has been featured on “Last Comic Standing,” Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” and “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” The Kansan had a chance to talk with Cummins recently to discuss his comedic style, upcoming television special and what it’s like to perform in front of college students.

Q&A with Cummins:

Kansan: All right Dan, let’s say that you’ve just seen yourself perform stand-up for the first time. How would you describe what you saw?

Dan Cummins: Well, I guess a few words that come to mind are dry, sarcastic and off-the-wall humor. In general, I would classify my comedy as pretty absurd. I saw a quote the other day where an author was asked to describe their book in a few sentences and he said, “Well if I could describe it in a few sentences I wouldn’t have wrote the book.” I kind of feel like that when it comes to stand-up. I get asked these questions every time and I never know how to answer because I just think my act is really unique and unlike everything else out there.

Kansan: Can you say a few things about some of your influences as a comic?

Dan Cummins: I would say Steven Wright, Daniel Tosh and Dave Attell are my main three influences. You know, when I first started doing stand-up everyone would say, “Just talk about your family, talk about where you’re from, make it autobiographical, don’t do this, don’t do that,” and I found it really hard to write jokes that way. When I saw someone like Daniel Tosh for the first time, it wasn’t like “Oh, I want to do what he’s doing.” It was more like “Oh, you can get away with those things you were too afraid to say.”

Kansan: Your half-hour television special recently took third place during Comedy Central’s stand-up showdown. How did that make you feel?

Dan Cummins: I was very excited. It was cool to know that people liked it and everything. But, the best part was when my manager called and said that Comedy Central liked it so much they wanted me to do an hour-long special.

Kansan: You’re currently on tour and have been doing a majority of your shows for college students. How do you like having an audience of primarily college students?

Dan Cummins: College audiences are great. I feel like when you’re in college your mind is more open to different things and you have more time to pursue the things you’re passionate about. I also know most college students grew up on Comedy Central, so they are usually more into stand-up than older folks and seem to be more responsive to the shows. I definitely like a college crowd better than, say, a bar crowd.

Kansan: How much will your show here at the University be a practice run for your upcoming television special?

Dan Cummins: Basically the first hour or so of my set will be new material directly from my new special. When you see it on Comedy Central in a few months, I may have changed a few words here and there, but it’s going to be about 99 percent the same.

Kansan: I don’t know if you’ve heard this yet, but in addition to the free comedy that is being provided, this event will also give away free pizza. What do you think about that combination?

Dan Cummins: Well that should bring some more people to the show. I do love pizza. Unfortunately, I’m lactose intolerant so I won’t be going crazy at the pizza buffet. But, I think those two things are the perfect college combination. If you could have free beer along with it, I’m pretty sure most of the University would show up. I don’t know how much attention they’d pay to my set at that point, but they’d certainly be around.

— — Edited by Sarah Kelly

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