Marissa Rousseau
Staff Writer
Comedian Preacher Lawson kicked off the fall semester at SUAB’s first back to school event Thursday, Sept. in DPAC.
Students were booming with laughter as Lawson joked about his real life experiences.
Lawson’s humor focused around four key subjects that are easily relatable to college students: alcohol, drugs, money struggles and dating.
Money and dating had a big response from the crowd. He kept the students’ amused with self- degrading humor. His jokes on living with his mother, his crazy family, going on bad blind dates and being broke like a college student had the audience going wild.
He surprised students with his jokes about drugs and alcohol. “I don’t drink,” said Lawson, “I think it’s gross.” He also mentioned that he did not use drugs of any kind. Despite not drinking or doing drugs, he was still able to be relatable while joking about the topics.
Lawson humored the crowd with these topics by mentioning anecdotes of his encounters with other individuals under the influence. And by the sound of the crowd’s laughter, he was successful.
He held the audience’s attention by actively keeping them involved in his performance. He continuously asked audience members questions and singled people out, which kept the humor rolling.
Lawson had a great time performing for FSU students. “I’m never coming back,” he joked, “I’m just playing. It was amazing. It was great. The crowd was really responsive, it was fun ... They were fun.”
Lawson traveled all the way from Portland, Oregon to spice up the start of the FSU academic year. He started by performing at the University of Memphis when he was 17. “I was in a bet between my mom. She was like, ‘bet you won’t go on stage’ and I was like ‘I did’ and I ruined my life,” he joked. “No, it was great.”
He recently won the “Funniest Comedian in Florida” competition just last year.
SUAB aimed to start out the year on a good foot, and were successful. “We like to start off the year with a lot of laughs,” says SUAB President Allie Carroll. “I think it lifts the mood ... It’s a good way to get people excited and I’m looking forward to the rest of our events.”
Carroll and the rest of the SUAB members were happy with the event overall. “I think it went really well. We had a good turnout, especially after move-in day, people are tired, but people who came seemed to have a good time,” Carroll said. “I was in the back and I heard tons of laughter, that’s always fun to hear. We saw lots of smiling faces when they left, so I’m pleased.”
FSU students had positive responses to Lawson’s performance.
Sophomore Emily Thomas said, “I thought it was really good, really funny. I’m very picky with the comedy I like and I liked his. ... He didn’t jump too fast, a lot of people will jump from one topic to another. He had good transitions.”
Sophomore Kristen Farrington said, “It was funny ... especially about his grandma. I would love to know that grandma.”