Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to Relay for Laugh, the stand-up comedy open mic night on Thursday, April 19.
The event took place at the university’s Little Theatre and the proceeds were donated to the Relay for Life fundraising event of the American Cancer Society.
Relay for Laughs was hosted during Javelina Student Championship Week, and fell on Student Leadership and Organization Champions day.
Students from all walks of life gathered their courage, took on the stage, and made the theatre echo with laughter.
Raymond Cabrera, a communications major, was the first courageous and hilarious soul to take on the stage. Cabrera is a right-arm amputee, and used this characteristic about himself as the target of his jokes.
“I was circumcised as a child….they just cut off the wrong part,” Cabrera said as he broke the ice and caused everyone to chuckle.
As soon as the ice was broken, Cabrera steadily had everyone roaring with laughter and as the night progressed the laughter didn’t let up.
Luis Aguilar, a communications major, was the fifth act of the night and was jokingly introduced as being an illegal immigrant. He then walked on stage, knocked on the microphone and said, “housekeeping?”
Aguilar then went on to focus his comedic bit on living with a Latina mother. He explained how his mother asked him one day “What would you do if something happened to me? Where would you be? You can’t live with your dad,” to which he sarcastically retorted and was punished with a very common Latina torture device, la chancla.
“She threw that chancla so hard she left the brand of the chancla on my neck. No joke for a whole week I was sporting ‘La Pulga,’“ he said as the crowd erupted with understanding and sympathy.
The event overall had a nice turnout, and the price of admission was only $1 for each person.
At the beginning of the event Etta Enow, a biomedical science major and Vice President of Alpha Psi Omega, which organized the event, said they had already raised more than $50 for the American Cancer Society, but as the night ventured on that amount grew to $110.
“I want to thank everyone for showing up to Relay for Laughs. All proceeds go to Relay for Life, so thank you everyone for your donations. And I want to thank the performers too because this takes guts,” Enow said.
Many students enjoyed the comedy as it relieved some pressure and anxiety from students’ busy schedules as finals are approaching.
“They were really funny. I honestly thought this could’ve been a terrible flop, but the students had me laughing so much that my side still hurts. During a couple of the performances I could barely breathe cause I was laughing so hard,”Alyssa Silas, a math major, said.