Event rounds out Women's Herstory Month

Nathan Knox

Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Campus News

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Comedian Meagan Mooney performs her act Tuesday in Schofield Auditorium. The comedy night, sponsored by the UAC Special Events Committee, was the final event celebrating Women's Herstory Month. Half of the proceeds went to breast cancer research.

On Tuesday night outside of Schofield Hall, students could hear a subtle wail of laughter carried in the wind. But fear not, the UW-Eau Claire campus is not haunted. The laughter came from inside Schofield Auditorium, where a small crowd roared and cackled with delight during two hours of stand-up comedy.

The event, sponsored by the University Activities Commission Special Events Committee, was the last hurrah in a string of university events for Women's Herstory Month. The two hours of hilarity began when Meagan Mooney kicked the night off and was followed by fellow comedian Jen Kober.

Sophomores Anna Spencer and Matt Santamaria attended and enjoyed the event.

"I laughed so hard I lost my voice," Santamaria said.

Mooney, who is a veteran of the renowned HBO Comedy Arts Festival and the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, opened the night with jokes about a big family and how her dad set his phone on "giggle" rather than vibrate.

In her repertoire of jokes, she talked about how headbands immediately make a person feel faster and how she talks to kitchen appliances like a gangster. Though the crowd was small, the laughter showed reason for Mooney's appearances on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and in her own Comedy Central Presents episode.

"The first girl, Meagan, was really funny," Spencer said, "but the second girl, Jen, I could relate to her jokes more."

Kober followed Mooney with a one-hour set of her own. Kober began and ended with high energy, telling jokes ranging from being addicted to the Nintendo Wii to why fat kids like Easter more than Halloween - no walking involved.

Telling jokes about how fat kids act like ninjas when sneaking cheese and getting angry at the Amish for causing traffic, Kober is gaining attention from the industry. She was the runner-up in the MySpace Stand Up/Sit Down Comedy Challenge that aired on TBS and as part of Comic Relief 2006 on HBO. Her television credits include appearances on Showtime, Lifetime, TBS and Oxygen, and she also appeared in Jamie Kennedy's feature documentary, "Heckler."

Co-chairs for the UAC special events committee, Kelli Basa and Anna Gatton set up the event and invited the comedians to perform. Finding funny female comedians was not a simple task, Gatton said.

"A lot of agencies send us packets of stuff and DVDs," Basa said. "So we had to watch a lot to find ones we like. We booked them right away."

Basa and Gatton said the UAC is planning a poetry showcase for April. The showcase will be held after the Viennese Ball and will be co-sponsored by NOTA. The UAC hasn't planned any further comedy shows yet, so for now, students can rest their weary faces and hope for more.

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