It has been said that laughter cures everything. Any student fortunate enough to be in the Mansion on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 8:00 p.m. was quickly cured of the homework blues, and instead laughing until their stomachs hurt. Two comedians, Lee Camp and Rob Paravonian, turned the Mansion into a room filled with cackles to be heard around campus.
Paravonian was the first comedian up to the stage. He joked a lot about his lemon of a car and how MTV’s “Pimp my Ride” was a funny show, but never gave the people anything useful. He said, “You would pop the hood and ask ‘why there isn’t there a day care for the kids I had in high school?’ Aside from the car jokes, Paravonian poked fun at pop culture. He used his guitar in proving the fact that every song on the radio is played by strumming three simple chords. Paravonian’s grand finale was him singing a compilation of recent music consisting of those three cords. He impersonated artists from Eminem to Avril Lavigne and Sugar Ray.
Paravonian is originally from Chicago, Illinois but he currently lives in New York City. He moved to NYC because he didn’t want to limit himself to being a touring performer. Paravonian has been featured on Comedy Central and VH1 and wrote theme songs for cartoons. Not only is Paravonian absolutely hilarious, he is extremely talented. Paravonian discovered that he was musically inclined at a ripe age of six. He started with the cello, and as he got older, picked up an interest in the guitar.
“I love to laugh and I love music. He made me appreciate the comedy aspect even more by implementing music in his gig” Emily Dispoto, a freshman Psychology major, said.
“And now for our headliner.” Paravonian said. Lee Camp refused to accept the label of “headliner” claiming that they were equally funny; however he did indeed prove himself as an exceptional comedian. Camp’s strategy was to give a funny twist to real life situations and current events. He touched on everyday pet peeves, such as dogs wearing sweaters to the terrorist attacks and airplane situations. Camp stated that he had a brand new bottle of face wash before going through the metal detector. Instead of throwing it away, he simply put the bottle in his pocket. “The bottle’s not metal.soon you’re going to see terrorists walking around in cargo pants,” Camp said.
Camp also went on to joke about how similar pre-school and college are. “You are the same as you walk out of pre-school as you are when you walk out of college. You got your clothes on backward, bottle in hand (not of milk, though), you still have bunk beds, and the only thing you’re concerned about is when it’s naptime.”
“It’s sad but so true. I look forward to napping every day- he was hilarious but everything he said was so true to life that it was that much funnier,” Monica Bossone, a freshman undeclared major, said.
Camp, from Virginia, has opened for Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live and Lewis Black of the Daily Show. He has also appeared in shows such as Law and Order SVU and short independent films.
Since our college has such a small campus, sometimes the turn out for events such as this isn’t as bold as, say, a dance. The comedians, however, proved to be a perfect break up of the monotony which consumes the average college student’s daily life.
“I think it went great. I didn’t know what to expect but it was a good turn out for a Wednesday night at the Mansion. There were about 40 people that showed up, I was impressed,” Kristine Schmid, senior history major and Director of Campus Activities and Programming Board, said.
The duo seemed to get a kick out of the fact that Cabrini was private school. They were even more interested in the fact that the Mansion was “haunted.” Paravonian was convinced that Mother Cabrini was out to get him and Camp told a story of another “haunted” school he performed at. He said that the students all looked above his head and gasped. Camp freaked out, thinking a ghost was floating over him. When Camp looked up, it was actually a bat hovering right above his head.
If the two hour comedy show wasn’t enough, the two comedians made sure to provide us with their contact information. Paravonian can be contacted on his website, www.robprocks.com. Camp can be contacted at his website, www.leecamp.net, “not .com, that will take you to some Asian porn site.no I am serious,” Camp said with a straight face. Camp also has a Myspace and a Facebook account where you can buy merchandise that will have you laughing for hours.
