The University Board, UB, hosted “Live at EIU” on Thursday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Students were able to enjoy stand-up acts from their peers along with a show from comedy magician, Trent James. Throughout the evening, UB offered refreshments and prizes to those in attendance.

UB put on the event as a part of Student Appreciation Week at Eastern. UB has two more events scheduled for the week. Friday there will be goats coming to campus at “EIU GOATS.” The event will be on the Library Quad from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be food trucks from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. The second event is the “EIU Grand Slam Pantherbash” on Saturday from 7 p.m.  to 10 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. There will be prizes, free food and more.

The night started out with some student performances. This opportunity was open to the entire student body. There were six performers taking their turns performing stand-up. Gunnar Olson, a sophomore, and broadcast journalist major and a performer, said “All of us that performed are a part of Hello Dali Improv Comedy here at EIU and we were approached by UBoard to do stand-up.”

Olson and his friends told stories about their friends, personalities and lives. They stories about their impulsive decisions, like pushing a cart so hard that it hits a trashcan and then a car. Stories about trips to the emergency room, like having your fractured foot fractured even more and stories about flirting failures, like when “walking” somebody home turns into accidental stalking.

After an hour of stories, the main event took the stage.

Trent James, a Chicago native, has been perusing magic since he was five years old. He has won over 20 awards and is the youngest recipient of The Milbourne Christopher Award. Rashad Oliver, a senior and digital media major, found himself at home with James.

“I was a fan of magic as a kid and thought the magician was enjoyable,” Oliver said.

From the reaction of the crowd, Oliver was not alone in that regard. James started off his hour-long performance with a not-so-simple egg trick. He started by showing the audience how he could turn a white handkerchief into a burgundy one. Then he pulled the said egg out of thin air. He started to show the audience how the egg was hollow and how he could hide the handkerchief inside the hollow egg. Then in one motion, he pulled a sticker off the egg to reveal that it was not in fact hollow, but a real egg. He cracked the egg into the cup and the handkerchief was nowhere to be found.

The night continued with card tricks, money tricks, bag tricks, voodoo tricks and a pickpocketing trick. James used audience participation to his advantage. He would take people from the audience and have them assist with his tricks. Whether that be from holding a bag to offering him a twenty-dollar bill.

The shows finale was one that shocked all. He started out by introducing his “friend” William, who happened to be a ventriloquist doll. William was going to help him read someone’s mind.

He started by asking the crowd if they were dog people. Almost everyone in the room raised their hand. He chose one girl and asked her to think about her childhood dog. He wanted her to think about the breed and the dog’s name. He then used William to channel that information. Which, in short, did not work out too well.

When William was not helping, James just took it into his own hands. He began to write down on a piece of paper the breed and the name of the dog. Giving up shortly after, he pulled out a poster from earlier in the show. During the performance, the poster had only been touched one other time. He slowly revealed that the correct breed and name of the dog were written on the back of the poster.

Kaylee Yeakel can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].