Comedian Michelle Buteau jokes on campus

Kris Mason
Staff Writer

Comedian Michelle Buteau had the  “Comedy Night” crowd at the University Student Commons laughing hysterically  based on the playful jokes she made about members of the audience during her standup routine on Thursday November 13 .

The outspoken New York native had a unique approach of telling standup from her own experiences while also engaging the audience and asking about their own lives.  She also made a plethora of jokes about her Swedish husband and interacting with her in-laws due to cultural differences.

Buteau is a co-host of Big Morning Buzz Live with Nick Lachey on VH1. She also plays the crazy girlfriend frequently on the Comedy Central show “Key and Peele”. In addition to doing standup shows at colleges and clubs across the country, her resume includes appearing on late night shows such as Lopez Tonight and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

The hour-long standup show sustained a conversational tone. Buteau probed several students to find out where they were from, what they did for fun on the weekends and whether they were in relationships. She would then incorporate playful jokes about their responses.

In general, students enjoyed Buteau’s piece.

Daryl Jones, a sophomore psychology major, enjoyed the interaction with the crowd.

“I thought Michelle was really funny and I like how she engaged with the audience and it made it interesting,” Jones said.

Aliyah Imani, a sophomore exercise science major, concurred with Jones’ review.

“I was cracking up, she was a good one and I recommend people seeing her,” she said.

The feeling of an enjoyable experience was a mutual one, as Burteau felt that the VCU student population was personable.

“Everyone was unusually nice and polite. I thought because the campus was so big it was gonna be crazy, but maybe it was just because it was a small group of kids. And when you’re not a household comedian, its interesting who comes, but it was really nice and everyone was really sweet,” Buteau said. “I remembered everybody’s name and I’ll remember them forever.“

The Activities Programming Board at VCU will put on more shows in the near future. They will present a healthy lifestyle event featuring Dolvett Quince from the Biggest Loser on Tuesday, Nov. 18. On Thursday, Dec. 4 they will host a relaxation event to teach students to live a stress free life during finals.