USG Spring comedy show elicits varying reactions among students

More than 1,000 people crowded into Dillon Gym on Thursday for a comedy show sponsored by the USG. The event featured comedians Robert Kelly, Jay Mohr and Tracy Morgan.

However, many students who attended said the audience was not amused but offended when one performer made some inappropriate jokes.

After an introduction by Kelly, Morgan took the stage to perform.

"Tracy Morgan came on stage, and everyone was pretty psyched," Tom Zychinski '05 said. "Everyone expected a lot out of him because he was on [Saturday Night Live]."

But soon Morgan began to make "really, really graphic, nasty, sexual comments," Zychinski said. Morgan called a female student on stage, asked her if she masturbated and tried to move her hand to inappropriate parts of her body, he said.

"I feel kind of bad for the USG because they spent a lot of money on it, and it wasn't the way they wanted it to turn out," he said.

Petra Sander '04, who was also at the show, said Morgan began "threatening [and] cursing" when heckled by some audience members.

He also made comments about committing lewd acts with family members of the audience, she said.

"From the things he said, I would think he was a criminal," Zychinski said.

Some students said they thought the comedian was on drugs during the performance.

"I felt like he had no sense of time," Zychinski said.

Matt Frost, an agent for New York Entertainment who booked the show, denied that Morgan used drugs during the show.

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"He was not on drugs," he said. "Definitely not. No way."

Frost, who does not represent Morgan exclusively, also said he had warned the University repeatedly that the act was "R-rated."

"I just told them he's definitely rated 'R,' " he said. "But it's not really my choice. I can only give suggestions.

"Tracy — he's not a clean comic at all. Every time I've seen Tracy, it's rated 'R.' That's what he does."

Both students and the USG, however, said the performance was not what they expected.

"It is okay to be raunchy, but he wasn't clever about it," said William Robinson '04, a student who attended the show.

Other students complained, not of the content of Morgan's performance but of its apparent lack of coherence.

"I felt like sometimes he was trying to stick to something, but . . . was incapable of doing that," Zychinski said.

During the show, he said, Morgan held a few sheets of paper, which he thought might be a script.

Sander said the general feeling was one of pity and embarrassment for the comedian.

"I think we all just sort of felt bad for him," she said. "He was getting really paranoid being up on stage."

Zychinski said he felt bad for the people who organized the event.

USG social chair West Owens '03 said he also thought Morgan's performance did not go as well as expected.

"We were upset too with him," he said. "The USG didn't feel that he performed as we expected him to perform."

USG president Nina Langsam '03 said the USG does not discuss the content of performances before the show.

"You can't tell them what kind of content to use," she said. "You pay them a fee, and they provide a service."

"You don't really know what performers are going to do onstage . . . They're artists," Owens said, noting that the USG advertised this performance as for "mature audiences only."

The evening ended on a high note, however, as Mohr's performance was well received by the mostly-student audience.

"Two of the three went over well, "Owens said. "I thought the other two more than made up for [Morgan's performance]."

After Morgan's 20-minute act, he said, Mohr performed for more than an hour, which is rare for a comedy show.

"I think the general feeling [from the audience] is that everyone liked Jay Mohr and Robert Kelly," Owens said, "and Tracy Morgan just made a fool of himself."