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Salacious sex and past relationships will be the focus of the first comedy show of the semester.
Rob O’Reilly will be opening the semester of the University Board comedy shows on Tuesday.
O’Reilly will be performing at 9 p.m. on Tuesday with a happy hour at 8:30 p.m. in the 7th Street Underground.
O’Reilly said he has been performing comedy for 10 years and began his comedy career in a high school talent show.
Shauna Miller, the University Board comedy coordinator, said O’Reilly will stand out to students because he is a younger comedian. She said students can understand and relate to his jokes.
“He is very upbeat for his material,” Miller said. “I watched a lot of his videos.”
O’Reilly said he started getting more involved in the comedy world in 2006 when he started touring colleges.
O’Reilly said from an early age that he has always loved comedy and grew up watching comedy shows.
In school, O’Reilly had a teacher that told him he was funny.
“I was the class clown,” O’Reilly said.
He said some of his comedic inspirations from when he was a child include the comedians Jim Gaffigan, Mitch Hedberg, Daniel Tosh and Dave Attell from the show Comedy Central Presents.
O’Reilly said he is currently inspired by Pete Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani, Kyle Kinane, Jared Logan, Rory Scovel and Barry Rothbart.
He said he finds comedy all around him.
“Things happen in real life then I punch line the ending,” O’Reilly said. “Nothing specific, whatever I think is funny.”
O’Reilly said for each show he has to know when he should be clean, when he needs to be restricted, and when he can use all of his material.
“College shows have all the best material,” O’Reilly said.
He said he could go from jokes from talking about his ex girlfriend to traveling.
O’Reilly said transitioning between jokes is easy with his material.
“I try to make the crowd laugh as much as possible,” O’Reilly said.
O’Reilly said some of his favorite comedy shows he performed at were Boston University where he opened for Dane Cook, Fitchburg State University, and at the Nokia Theater in New York in Times Square where he opened for 2,000 people.
O’Reilly said he enjoys going to the bars around campuses to have comedy shows.
He said he i excited to be performing at Eastern.
“I would like people to know I’m super funny,” O’Reilly said. “If you do not believe me you can find me on YouTube.”
Miller said Eastern student Andrew Hicks, a communication studies major, will be the opening comedian of the show for 10 minutes. Hicks has competed in last comic standing and has won second place. He is also involved in radio.
“The opening comedian has other things students can enjoy,” Miller said. “The opening show is a good kick off to the rest of the semester.”
Stacey Catterson can be reached at 581-2812
