Temple's annual Welcome Week festivities came to a conclusion on Saturday night with nearly the exact same sight as years past: kids flooding out of the Liacouras Center, flushed and smiling, being herded away from oncoming traffic by police officers. Unlike years past, however, attendees pre-gamed their Saturday nights with a comedy show. The Welcome Week guest performer spot, held in previous years by rappers as varied as Wale and Big Sean, was occupied by comedian, actor and soon-to-be author Aziz Ansari. Tickets were distributed four hours before show time and a small drove of students lined up in advance around the block to get free tickets.
When the Main Campus Program Board first announced the news on its Twitter, reactions were mixed, if only for reasons summed up by @themikeyc123, actuarial science sophomore Michael Ciccone, "we can't turn up to a comedian." @Curt_Rosenbauer let MCPB know in more succinct terms how he felt with a hearty "BOOOOOO" tweet reply. Whether or not the naysayers wishing for a more apt soundtrack to "get turnt to" actually went to the show or not, there was hardly a frown to be found amongst the faces leaving the Liacouras Center on Saturday night.
What brought on MCPB's decision to inadvertently anger a few Twitter followers?
Comedy shows are technically nothing new for MCPB, as Bendekovits cites last year's show by a partial representation of the cast of "The Daily Show" and a comedy show with headliners Key and Peele in 2011, just as they started their show on Comedy Central.
The process of picking a Welcome Week performer is just about as cut and dry as imaginable.
Ansari began his set previewing jokes from the upcoming Roast of James Franco, and then moved right into material culled from previous tours "Dangerously Delicious" and "Buried Alive", the latter of which was recently filmed for a future concert special at the Kimmel Center this past April.
The main theme of the night was the way relationships are approached and handled in a modern age. In a particularly funny exchange, Ansari tried and failed numerous times to connect on a bit about text messages between new acquaintances when some front-row audience members seemed to misunderstand his prompt.
"It's a simple question!" Ansari laughed to the rest of the audience. Ansari appeared to have hit his mark with his subject matter, as cries of "So true!" rang out from the stadium numerous times.
As is customary with any performance of any kind in the 21st century, the occasional hollow light of a cell phone illuminating texting hands shone out, sprinkled throughout the arena. However, in a show where a fair number of the jokes revolved around the haplessness of texting one's way into a romantic relationship, maybe the audience can't be blamed for that particular misstep.
Immediately post-show, groups of students could be heard attempting to retell favorite bits to each other, and most agreed that a comedy show is a good change of pace.
Nelson Pun, a recent transfer student in the film department, identified what might have been a key factor in the high attendance.
"30 Minutes or Less," dog.