The St. Olaf Student Activities Committee (SAC) hosted comedian Kevin Bozeman on the Pause Mane Stage on Friday, Oct. 19.
Bozeman, a Chicago native, has been featured on Comedy Central and was a semifinalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” Bozeman had the crowd roaring with laughter from his unapologetic and blunt sense of humor.
Not for the faint of heart, Bozeman tore into the culture at St Olaf, saying that we should be thanking him for coming because there is nothing to do around here. Bozeman also noted the lack of diversity at St. Olaf, saying that we should not be surprised by it, if we wanted more diversity we shouldn’t go to school in the middle of nowhere.
He mocked the crowd’s uncomfortable laughter at more sensitive topics including race, abortion and masturbation. Bozeman’s comedy arguably revealed the sometimes immature and avoidant culture we have at St. Olaf.
Patric Carlsen ‘21 said it was “interesting to see how he noted the audience reaction and that it was really that apparent.”
A good amount of Bozeman’s jokes concerned fatherhood, joking about the struggles he has had raising his sons. He said that when people ask how old his sons are, he says they are, “at the age where they take really long showers.”
He also joked about living in suburbia, saying that “you can’t do a drive-by in a cul-de-sac unless you hate all three of the houses.”
Bozeman acknowledged the struggles college students face – even at private schools – and invited three students up on stage for a “joke off” for a prize of $20.
Dana Smith ’20 won the joke-off with her joke about the hypothetical situation of a “literal presidential race around the white house” between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Smith said that although Hillary won the running race, she didn’t beat the all time record because “Bush did 9:11.”
Carlsen was one of the other students called up on stage for the joke off, but he didn’t volunteer.
“I wasn’t going to go up on stage, but he pointed me out and asked if I had a joke” Carlsen said. “ I knew a lot of jokes but could only really think of one from when I was like eight years old and it didn’t translate great to a college audience, but it was okay.”
Bozeman seemed to enjoy the performance saying that we were much better than he expected us to be. He even joked that after he wins the lottery he is going to continue to do shows at the “Pause Mane Stage,” which he found incredibly comical.
