SOAP presents Comedian Geoff Keith

By Stacie Manger

Staff Writer

Comedian Geoff Keith confidently walked onto the stage in Holloway Hall on the night of April 1, and for good reason, as he proceeded to charm the audience with jokes and improvisation.

In his camo pants, black t-shirt and white undershirt, Keith immediately began commenting on the idea of college.

"I tried to go, but they want you to read all the time," Keith said during the show. "5,000 pages by tomorrow, you say? My question was, how do I drop a class?"

"I like to book people who can relate to the student body," said SOAP comedy leader Katie Ryan. "That is something very important to me. Geoff Keith is younger, so I knew he would be able to connect with us."

Keith briefly attended the University of Redlands where he played on the basketball team and dreamt of being in the NBA. When his averages did not impress the scouts, he dropped out and started doing stand up comedy, a wise choice.

Keith has appeared on Comedy Central and Playboy TV and has opened for Damon Wayans, Paul Mooney and Lisa Lampanelli, among others.

His show content comes from various sources. "A lot of it comes from true stories from my life," Keith said after the show. He also feeds off of his audience. He reacts to every comment or request.

"He did a very good job with interacting with the audience and running with changes and reactions he got from audience members," said sophomore Matt Mitchell. "Also, his planned routine was very funny and while his comments could be taken as harsh he kept it cool and made it a great show!"

Some of Keith’s jokes were crude and at times, that did not seem to sit well with the audience. Yet, he brushed it off each time there was a silence or a sound of disapproval. "Why does it matter if I am making fun of them? It’s just a joke," he said during the show.

"[Keith] is a comedian, so he’s not going to be talking about puppy dogs and butterflies," Ryan said. "So far I have not heard bad things about him. I thought he was hilarious."

Keith said that he does not mind making fun of anyone because he has friends from all different races, religions and sexual orientations. He pokes fun at comments from the audience and in Tuesday’s show, he made one audience member’s comments a large section of the set. One girl said that Keith was not good-looking and he added that into his act. He stopped the show, found out who it was and brought her up on stage.

"I most enjoyed how persistent he was when trying to find the girl who insulted him," Mitchell said.

Senior Caitlyn Distler said that part of the set was not her favorite, but she liked how Keith incorporated it into the show because it was him interacting with the audience.

"My show is all about having a good time and I like it to feel like a party between me and the crowd. I look at the crowd as one big friend and, just like when you hang out with your friends, no one is safe (not even me)," Keith said.

Keith kept asking Ryan how much time he had left, and he did not stop at his hour mark. He went on for 40 extra minutes because of the positive reaction from students in the crowd. The audience did not seem to mind, and kept on laughing until Geoff Keith said goodnight.

Comments/Opinions (0)

Search issues | Publication schedule | Contribute your ideas to the Flyer | Advertise with us | RSS feed

Guerrieri University Center Room 215

410-543-6191