By Staff Writer Maddie Kenn
On Tuesday January 29, UMass Dartmouth welcomed two comedians, Kiry Shabazz, and Feraz Ozel to the stage. By 7p.m., the auditorium seats were occupied by a small, but respectable crowd.
Once everyone was seated and settled in for a night of laughter and entertainment, the lights dimmed and Shabazz embraced the spotlight as he received a warm welcome from the audience members.
He was overjoyed to share his success in his latest career, briefly describing his comedy debut with Jimmy Fallon and Comedy Central. He did not mention the NBC Comedy Competition, but after doing some research, Shabazz pops up as the winner of the 14th annual standup competition out of 1,250 standup comedians.
Although he is currently doing exceptionally well, Shabazz traveled a long and tiring journey, as he jokingly put it, “I followed my dream…I don’t recommend it.”
As he explained, he started out working in a Taco Bell in his hometown, “learning useless information. Anyone know how to make a crunchwrap supreme? Add a scoop of ground beef to the center of four large flour tortillas, leaving a generous border for folding. Drizzle cheese sauce over each, then place a shell on top. Spread sour cream over each shell, then top with lettuce, tomato, and a pinch of cheese. Place smaller flour tortilla cutouts on top and tightly fold edges of large tortilla toward the center.In the same skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add Crunchwrap to a pan on medium heat and cook until tortilla is golden, 3 minutes per side. I just said that in sixty seconds, when am I ever going to use that in the real world? Never.”
After an expected reaction, and burst of laughter from the crowd, he then proceeded to explain how he wanted to do more with his life, and comedy was what made him happy.
As the night progressed, Shabazz wrapped up his act by interacting with the audience, asking what majors the students are studying, what clubs they are apart of, and making fun of them, resulting in a bundle of laughter. At 8 p.m., Shabazz gave a brief speech about Feraz Ozel, before leaving the stage during his final applause for the night.
Ozel made a reappearance to the UMass Dartmouth stage, jet lagged from a long flight from LA but he was happy to return to our campus. He too, interacted with the audience members by having them share their personal experiences as a student at UMassD and any stories they may have about the so called “spirits” roaming around on campus. He then started his act by making jokes about his cultural background and outsiders perspectives of him. Throughout his act, he made several impressions of well known artists, Eminem, the famous rapper being one of them. Getting the audience involved in the act, he asked students what they thought the worst chore was when they were a kid, and someone replied “taking out the trash.” Ozel then performed a freestyle rap about taking out the trash in Eminem’s voice.
Both comedians had a phenomenal stage appearance, neither of them stood still at the mic, they were both walking around the stage, dancing, using the curtain as a prop and pointing at members in the crowd. They both put on quite an entertaining show.
Students and faculty who participated were very supportive towards both comedians and nobody seemed to get offended, as it was all i good fun!
The night came to an end and after the comedians received their last applause, they waited outside in the hallway to take pictures with fans and thank them for coming. Students of an illustration class were also interacting with the comedians, drawing them as they performed on stage, and even received feedback from the performers after the show on their drawings.
A big thank you to SAIL for sponsoring Arnie’s 2019 Comedy Club, and thank you to our special guests who joined us this year!