Blue collar comedian Ron White, along with opening act and friend Alex Reymundo, split the sides of a sold-out Fisher Auditorium crowd Thursday night.
White is most famous for his part in the four-person "Blue Collar Comedy" and known best for his cigar and scotch on stage.
According to House Manager Rebecca Johnson (senior, art education), the two comedians sold out every single one of the 1,452 seats.
The HUB Box Office records show that the tickets for this event sold out within two hours of going on sale, an accomplishment in this economy and for a show on a Thursday night.
As the show began, it was difficult not to notice that there were at least twice as many older audience members from all around compared to amount of college students.
As "Sweet Melissa" played and the audience members took their seats, the excitement in the air was contagious and the buzz centered around the main performance.
"He's the best out of the four blue collar boys. I have his DVD on the 'Blue Collar Comedy Tour.' I'm really excited," said Joe Parker (freshman, accounting).
"I think it's great that he comes to a university this size to do something for the students," said Bryan Roberts (junior, management information systems).
"We love Ron White," Nicole Pilardi (junior, child and family studies).
As the lights dimmed, the opening act, Reymundo, emerged onto the stage and warmed the crowd up. Reymundo's jokes centered around things that everyone could relate to and his demeanor kept the crowd laughing the whole time, as well as involved.
Though it wasn't difficult to tell the difference between White's and Reymundo's styles, they differed in a way that allowed everyone in the crowd to feel comfortable with the show.
Reymundo kept the crowd entertained for a half-hour with jokes about race, immigration, family and children. The slightly crude delivery of the jokes was just a warm-up for White, whose performance was just as irreverent and funny as always.
As the house lights dimmed again after Reymundo's act and a spotlight was pointed at a stool on the stage holding a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label and an ashtray, the noise from the crowd was overwhelming.
The music prompted suspense, stopping and starting as if White would enter the stage at any moment. The wait was worth it, however, as White's greeting to the stage was deafening when he finally emerged.
After a few well-received cracks about the naming of this town and how its citizens need to "make up your minds: Indiana or Pennsylvania," White's well-known, naturally comical style came through and the stories began.
No more than a few seconds passed without laughter from the crowd throughout the show, and it's no wonder. Some of the notable lines in this show were things like "there's a lot of reasons you don't want a ferret in your ass.
They're not like gerbils," and "I obey all the laws that make sense." White also told the story of his arrest in Florida a few weeks ago, where he was detained for a about an hour and a half for possession of marijuana after the police received an anonymous tip that there were drugs on his personal airplane.
White said he was arrested with "seven-eighths of a gram of weed," and got a long laugh out of the audience by ending the story by saying "if I have seven-eighths of a gram of weed on me, I consider myself out of weed."
Story after story like this, all from the recent past and very few references to material that anyone in the audience had ever heard from White before, the crowd remained in stitches and constantly involved in White's narrative.
White mentioned a USO tour that he did for the troops and shared his feelings of support for the troops with the audience, which was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm.
The humility in his performance was also notable and evidence of his natural style, as he was more than happy to comment on his own mistakes during his performances.
More than once he became tongue-tied and was the first to respond, making fun of his mistake for a minute or two before continuing on with his original story.
After the show, the two were very appreciative of the crowd and the reception.
"We appreciate everyone coming out, especially on a Thursday night," Reymundo said. "Ron and I know the economy is hard and we appreciate people coming out and spending their hard-earned money, especially in states like Pennsylvania that have been hit really hard.
We try to make it the best show we can for everyone."
Reymundo's trick of the trade? "Truth plus exaggeration equals comedy."
I got the chance to sit down with White after the show and talk to him about his performance and his career in general. White said that one of his favorite states to play is Pennsylvania.
"I'm kind of a blue collar guy … and really no state, for all the guys in 'Blue Collar,' has been better for us than Pennsylvania," he said. "It doesn't matter where we are, this is just a great comedy state."
When asked whether he would rather do shows by himself or with the other guys from the "Blue Collar Comedy" tour, he said he would rather be by himself "because it's my show. I had a blast doing that show for years and years and years.
I've been a comedian for a long time and I don't mind being a support act when I need to be a support act, but the fun for me is coming out and doing these big shows where the people just come to see me.
It's a blast every night. I work hard at this craft still. I still do open-mic nights, I still develop material every day. I did stuff on stage today that was one day old."
White said that he enjoyed the diverse crowd that came out to the show that night, but commented that "I don't like it when people bring little kids to the show because it's just so inappropriate.
They say that the kid watches HBO and that I'm not going to say any words he hasn't heard. Yeah, but I'm going to say them in a brand new order. That's all the matter: It's what order the words are in."
When asked what his brand of scotch is, White was able to easily produce at least 50 bottles of Johnny Walker of blue, black, red and gold label out of every cabinet in his tour bus.
The night was definitely not one that anyone in the crowd is likely to forget.
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