Flocks of Hopkins students headed to Shriver Hall for one of JHU Orientation’s most anticipated events: Andrew Schulz’s Comedy Show performance. Schulz has performed at prestigious venues such as New York Comedy Club, The Comedy Cellar, and The Laugh Lounge. So, I, like most Hopkins students, was extremely excited to see him perform. Sadly, I was disappointed by his routine.
Schulz began the show with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. He used physicality to mimic people he was describing. The audience especially enjoyed his jokes about the college experience— how to attract members of the opposite sex, what it was like living in a co-ed dorm for the first time, and a particularly hilarious line about about how much hair he now found in his bathtub that made the audience erupt in laughter.
Soon enough, however, Schulz began to talk about his sexual exploits in graphic detail. Though some members of the audience enjoyed this, other audience members were visibly uncomfortable. Schulz’s entire performance recounted his sex life in an over-the-top manner. Schulz even lost his train of thought mid-routine! When he asked the audience to remind him of what he had just been talking about, audience members had to awkwardly tell him he had been talking about his sex life.
Although Schulz may have viewed this as a way to incorporate the audience in his routine, it did not make me any more interested in his performance.
Some of Schulz’s stories made the audience laugh, but many fell flat, leaving behind an awkward silence that Schulz would fill by using curse words. His inability to tell jokes without using constant profanity also detracted from his performance.
A good comedian can cover almost any subject matter, but Schulz seemed to focus on one main topic: women and how to please them. Hopkins’ male population was interested, but many of the girls in the audience looked bored or just plain uncomfortable to be hearing such graphic stories about how Schulz pleased his girlfriend. In every single one of his stories, he ended up coming out on top, quite literally, by pleasing women and getting everything he desired.
If he incorporated stories that showed him in a slightly weaker position, perhaps more audience members would have been interested in what he had to say. Furthermore, if Schulz had taken into account the females in the audience (approximately half of his crowd), he might have tailored his material a bit to portray females in another way besides as objects whose sole purpose is to perform sexual favors.
In short, Schulz’s initial comedic success fell flat because he failed to consider his audience before performing. Schulz’s macho persona may attract a wide variety of audiences in New York City, but he didn’t seem to identify with the average Hopkins student. I am not saying that Hopkins students are not interested in sex; that would be a completely false statement. Hopkins students want to hear about more than just sex.
JHU Orientation should have chosen a comedian that would have poked fun at the college environment in general: college academics, professors, and how to meet members of the opposite sex. Hopkins students wanted to see a comedian they could have related to on multiple levels, not a person who seemed to be putting on a front about being a Casanova.
Schulz’s enthusiasm and energy clearly showed that he has the potential to be an amazing performer in almost any venue. He has a great stage presence and a strong, clear voice that truly commands an audience. When he learns to tailor his material to suit his crowd, he just may become an unstoppable comedic force.
