USG comedy show to feature SNL stars

The USG spring event will feature a comedy show this month starring comedians Tracy Morgan, Jay Mohr and Robert Kelly, the USG announced last night.

The event, named "Thursday Night Live," will take place April 18 in Dillon Gym and will be emceed by Kelly. Morgan is a member of the "Saturday Night Live" cast, and Mohr used to be part of the ensemble.

After negotiations with a top rock band fell through in February, the USG decided to pursue other options, social chair West Owens '03 said.

Owens said the USG had prepared for a band but was unable to sign a top band, largely because of financial concerns.

The caliber of band the USG was negotiating with regularly turns down multimillion-dollar corporate offers, Owens said, and filling 30,000 seats in the stadium is difficult.

"There's a dearth in the music market," he said. "We could have gone with a band of lesser value."

Instead, the USG chose to look into organizing a comedy show, Owens said, and the proximity of SNL to the University made its castmembers particularly attractive.

"You can go wrong with a band," he said. "But it's very hard to go wrong with a comedy event."

The final contract with the comedians was signed in the past few days, Owens said.

An additional semester was added to Owens' term to prepare a major social event, and last year, the USG held a Billy Joel concert in Richardson Auditorium that had limited capacity and charged $40 to $50 per ticket.

Owens said the USG amassed a large debt because the Willie Nelson concert in spring 2001 was free. The Billy Joel concert was also expensive and was subsidized, he said.

"Just because we didn't get the stadium show doesn't mean we didn't get stuff done for the stadium," he said. "A stadium show is ready to go at any time we can a find [a band]."

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The USG social event has a budget of $50,000, and the USG has a policy against making a profit on these events, Owens said.

Tickets for the event will cost $8 for undergraduates and $14 for other holders of a University identification card. They will be sold at the Frist Campus Center ticket office.

Undergraduates can buy tickets on April 12 and April 15-18. Other PUID holders can buy tickets on April 17-18.

Each purchaser will be able to buy a maximum of two tickets, one of which can be used by a non-University guest.

Boston-native Kelly, widely known at comedy clubs and colleges nationwide, will appear in the ABC show "The Job" and the NBC show "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" later this year.

Morgan, who is from New York City, has been a member of SNL since September 1996. He is known for his impressions of Mike Tyson, Busta Rhymes, Star Jones and Maya Angelou.

A New Jersey native, Mohr, who has acted in major motion pictures such as "Jerry Maguire" and "Go," was a regular on SNL and recently has become host of "Mohr Sports," a variety sports show on ESPN.

Two years ago, the USG brought comedian Jon Stewart to campus for a comedy show.

The USG also announced last night that a drum circle featuring Leon Mobley will be held April 20 on Alexander Beach.