It's 'Showtime' at Penn's Hall of Flags

Walking by Houston Hall on Friday night, even the most oblivious Penn student would have wondered about the loud laughter and booming music emanating from the Hall of Flags. But for the students in the audience at the Second Annual Homecoming Comedy Jam -- sponsored by the Social Planning and Events Committee To Represent Undergraduate Minorities -- the only thing to wonder about was what the comedians would say next. And very few audience members were disappointed. The Laugh Out Loud Comedy Jam was the first of many activities taking place around campus this Homecoming Weekend. Drawing a crowd of close to 400, the event -- hosted by Rudy Rush and featuring comedians Keith Robinson, Drew Frazier and Mike Epps -- was a huge success. Rush, host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, put on his own comedy act and introduced each of the main performers. Given his audience, he appropriately shared jokes about college, relationships, sex and the day-to-day trivialities most people fail to find humorous. "Yeah, I remember college. Those were the best two weeks of my fuckin' life," Rush said, drawing laughter from the audience. Rush held nothing back when it came to the double standards in most relationships. "All you ladies out there, when you're in a relationship you have guy friends, but fellas we can't have lady friends. How many ladies in here can say they have guy friends who would lay in bed with you and not try anything?" Rush asked, to which most females in the audience clapped loudly. "Bullshit," Rush said, and the crowd once again erupted in laughter. The off-color themes running through most of Rush's comedy remained constant throughout the evening, as Robinson, Frazier and Epps each offered a different spin on issues confronting men and women today. Addressing a man in the audience, Robinson said, "Let me ask you something, you walk into a room and catch your woman in bed with another woman, what do you do?" He paused, looked at the rest of his audience, and said, "Look at that smile, you know what that means. That means, 'I'd jump in.'" Some of Robinson's skits touched on somewhat sensitive racial issues, but the effect on his audience was always positive. Frazier's act was equally well-received. Drugs seemed to be the hot topic of his skits. "Certain things you can't do when you're high," Frazier began. "Like you know you're fucked up if you're stopped at a stop sign waiting for the light to turn green." Epps' spontaneous rambling, occasionally interrupted by scripted material, was a big hit with his audience. "I've been turned into a fucking joke up here. I smoked too much weed, I'm going to be honest with you," Epps said. Such unscripted material drew mixed reviews from the audience. "I liked [Epps]. He just had a distinct personality, he talked about things in everyday life, things you could relate to," freshman Kamaria Shauri said. College junior Steve Faulk disagreed. "It was funny, but I don't think it was worth $10. I was disappointed that the dude came out at the end high, trying to make me laugh," Faulk said. But all in all, most seemed to have enjoyed the evening. "People were into it, it was a nice little thing for Penn," Shauri said. "We should definitely have more like it."