During Veteran’s Day weekend, Keene State College’s After Hours hosted two touring stand-up comedians for the Second Saturday event Ralph Anthony, Michael Harrison and Jason Cheny visited KSC for a show in the Night Owl Cafe.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Usually, After Hours books two comedians, but this weekend, Keene State managed to score three. The night began with Keene State’s own improv group “3 Ways ‘Til Sunday” as the introducing act for the night of comedy.
This is quite common for the troupe to perform before the stand-up comedians, spicing up the night with both improv comedy and stand-up comedy of their own. This also gives the students some practice in working together as a comedy group and gets the audience warmed up for the comedians before they perform.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
When the show first started, the Night Owl Café was mostly full, with seats filling up in the front and the back of the room. The first comedian to start was Ralph Anthony. Ralph’s set lasted 10 minutes and his jokes mostly involved marijuana.
Michael Harrison was up next. The Canada native started off his set with jokes about the recent election and talking about what it’s like being a Canadian in the states. When asked what drove him to be a comedian, Michael said, “I was picked on a bunch in high school, and I really wanted attention….”
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Lastly, native Taiwanian Jason Cheny took the stage joking at his transition from living in one country and moving to another. As a traveling comedian, Jason said that one of the worst shows he went to was “just at a bar. There was no one there. Just the bartender and I told some comedy to her (the bartender.) Another one was when I did an urban room; I walked on stage and a minute later, they all started booing me and tapping the tables.”
The only common complaint of the night from the audience was that it felt like a long show. Visiting UNH student Katherine Zampini said, “I still really enjoyed it. I do think it [the show] was a little too long. I wish I had the energy to watch the last performer.”
Other than the show lasting longer than usual, it seemed to have been well-received.
Keith Medlock can be contacted at kmedlock@kscequinox.com
