Comedian Seaton Smith performed his set in the Student Center Ballroom on Wednesday, Aug. 31. The event was put on by the Student Activities Board (SAB) and was free of charge for students.
Seaton Smith is known for starring in the short-lived Fox comedy “Mulaney,” as well as for his roles on “Inside Amy Schumer” and performing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
However, SAB did not anticipate Smith’s vulgar material, or the way he talked about sensitive subjects.
Smith covered topics such as condoms, relationships and the upcoming election.
“It’s possible we could have our own Hitler. No need to turn on the History Channel, just turn on CNN,” Smith said.
In between his jokes, Smith constantly got the crowd involved with his show, asking questions and responding to the crowd’s remarks.
At one point, Smith told an audience member who kept interrupting his show to “consider suicide.”
SAB Graduate Assistant Jill Wulfenstein said SAB was not informed by Smith’s agent about his material.
Normally, the SAB would put an advisory warning on the front of advertisements regarding the mature material. This show did not have one.
A reporter for The Echo heard SAB members speaking after the performance. “Every once in a while, something like this slips in,” Wulfenstein said. “You win some, you lose some.”
But the SAB is not worried about backlash from anybody. In fact, SAB President Emilia Barrick believes it will get people talking about future Student Activities Board shows.
“It will create buzz,” Barrick said.
During the performance, the Student Center ballroom was about half full.
Smith is one of three stand-up comedians who are scheduled to perform this year.
Nick Guerra, who performed on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” will perform Sept. 14 and Trenton Davis who, according to his website, won the 2013 Sacramento Comedy Festival, will perform Oct. 26.
The SAB is keeping its biggest show under lock and key.
Last year, SAB members considered Nick Cannon’s Wild N’ Out to be their biggest show. On Aug. 21, SAB used its Twitter page as a way to get a consensus on what comedian the students wanted to see the most.
With 153 votes, Gabriel Iglesias led the vote with 42 percent, Jim Gaffigan at 38 percent and Trevor Noah with 20 percent, respectively.
When asked if the vote was final, and if the decision was made off of the Twitter page, Wulfenstein said, “We have nothing set in stone right now.”
Iglesias is known internationally for his stand-up shows that have aired on Comedy Central and Netflix. Jim Gaffigan stars in “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” and Trevor Noah is the host of “The Daily Show.”
