Zach Galifianakis: A red dress and subtle humor
Billy Jahn
Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Features
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On Thursday March 22, Zach Galifianakis brought his unique routine to Rowan University's Pfleeger Hall and the hundreds of students and others who showed up for the event were more than entertained. Along with Galifianakis, comedians Steve Hofstetter and Michael Dean Ester electrified the crowd with laughter.
Ester was the first comedian on stage. He was very upbeat and had a plethora of energy.
The SUP did a great job in organizing the event, said Ester, pointing out himself how great a job they did in bringing the comedians to Rowan and allowing the students to come see some great performers.
After Ester warmed up the crowd with his energizing performance, Steve Hofstetter took the stage.
One of Hofstetter's funnier lines in the show came when he asked the audience if they were gamers. The crowd of gamers made a loud enough response where Hofstetter then replied, "I am not a videogame person. I am attracted to women."
After Ester and Hofstetter finished their act, there was no long wait as Galifinaikas took the stage soon after.
He opened up his act with a few subtle jokes. One of his opening jokes talked about the young boy who had sexual relations with his high school teacher. Galifianakis said the kid had just recently died … of high-fiving too much. He also said his show was presented by cool ranch Doritos and Wilson Brothers Child Caskets.
Shortly after making a few jokes on the microphone, Galifianakis moved on to the piano where he would start playing a little tune and start making jokes from there. When asked about how long he has played the piano, Galifianakis responded that he doesn't even know how to play the piano.
"I don't really know how to play the piano," he said. "I'm kind of faking it. I don't know how to read music. I started using it eight years ago in my act. I didn't start with it at all. I just like to change the pace a little bit of the show. I don't like to stand at the piano. I don't like to do just regular standup. I like the keep the audience surprised."
While on piano, Galifinaikas was on cue to do one of his more well-known jokes but stumbled over his line and laughed, but then recited his famous line of, "When you look like me, it's hard to get a table for one at Chuck-E-Cheese … especially if you bring a sketch pad."
After a few more jokes on the piano, Galifianakis got off stage and started to interact with the crowd. He literally got off stage and started walking around the front row of the stands. He talked to a student named Howard who is a business major and inspired to be a bar owner. He then asked another student named Jay what he wanted to do. Jay said he was a biology major and wanted to go into dentistry.
Galifianakis then turned to Howard and joked around to him saying he should get a real degree just like Jay. Zach then made his way from one end of the stage to another and talked to a gentleman from the fraternity Alpha Chi Rho. Zach joked to the gentleman that he is in a fraternity named "Alpha Falfa."
After interacting with the fans, Galifianakis did something most comedians wouldn't dare to do: he stripped off his clothes only to reveal a spandex-type red dress and began to sing the Annie rendition of "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow." While doing this rendition, he had his poster board of comments set on stage, which he did not read aloud but tore up the pages one-by-one. The messages on the poster board were comical but had a few political jokes on them because Galifianakis has a strong political opinion and tries to incorporate it into his act.
"I want to be political; I'm political in my real life," he said. "My stand up isn't that political so I try to figure out a way for my absurdity to be political and that's what I came up with."
When asked if the poster board routine is his favorite part of his act, Galifianakis said that he just likes to do visuals. He says he has probably done about six completely different versions using the poster board.
To conclude his rendition of Annie, Galifianakis tossed a good amount of glitter in the air and the crowd erupted and rose to a standing ovation. Most comedians like to end on a high note, but this was fairly unusual and just how Galifianakis likes his act to be. He likes to make his act different than others and have a lot of variety.
"I like to do performance pieces," he said. "So I'll just do a big grand finale type of performance piece. I just try to get some kind of feeling rather than just the microphone and the words. I like to use the element of music and stupid costumes."
Many students after the show were waiting in line to meet Zach and get his autograph. They were all in agreement that the show was very funny.
"I though the show was absolutely hilarious," said Mike Sheehan, a senior theatre performance major. "I thought all three of the comedians were good. Zach was obviously unbelievably funny. I've seen his shows before but I really enjoyed seeing him live. His dry sense of comedy and humor is really outstanding."
"I like how his comedy is three parts," said Tommy Oceanak, sophomore Radio/Television/Film major. "He does piano, dances around in a dress or whatever and he just does regular standup and it's so offbeat and dry."
The favorite part of the show for Cassie DeLorenzo, sophomore history major, was Galifianakis' rendition of Annie. She called it "ridiculous and amazing."
As of now, Galifianakis is working on writing a movie called "Fat Jesus." He says the movie is based on Jesus and how he would be if he came back to life as a stoner. Zach says he likes to do standup but has other kinds of projects he would like to do.
Galifianakis complemented the Rowan crowd and said they were simply a really, really good crowd.
"I've done some universities and I don't know how [the students] even got into school, but this crowd was very, very nice and very attentive."
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