Comedians visit Eastern for filming
Three professional comedians will film their promotional videos at Eastern this weekend.
This will take place at the final comedy show of the year at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday at 7th Street Underground.
The three comedians are all from the same agency, said Amy Baumgart, graduate assistant for Student Life. She said the agency said they heard nothing but good things about the shows at 7th Street Underground and thought it would be a good atmosphere for the video.
The three comedians will perform about 30 minutes each and film that performance.
Baumgart said the university got a good deal on the three of them.
The three comedians are Chris Mata, Robbie Printz and Pete Holmes.
Mike Usher, comedian chair for University Board, said Holmes was at Eastern in September and is looking forward to coming back for another show.
Baumgart said this show is different from the other comedy shows they’ve had for many reasons.
She said it was the first time a comedy show is on a Saturday. She said they’ve also never had more than one comedian in a show, other than their Last Comic Standing competition.
It is also the first show to include student involvement, she said.
Matt Caponera, a sophomore communications studies major, won the Last Comic Standing competition on March 28 and will open the comedy show Saturday night.
Usher said since the comedians are filming for their video, the show will also be different because they’ll be using their best material in the short time spot they have.
He said University Board also made sure they had great prizes to give away for this event.
Baumgart said they have a couple iPods, Eastern gear and gift cards to give away and are hoping for a big crowd.
“We’re hoping for maybe 200 students,” Baumgart said.
She said they’ve had a good following for their comedy shows so far.
Univeristy Board trying to get the word out on the show with advertising on the big sandwich boards on campus, handing out flyers and creating a Facebook event to pull people in, Usher said.
He said he was also making labels to put on the back of Laffy Taffys that will be handed out on campus.
Usher said they expect the show to be only about an hour and a half or two hours.
“We wanted the last comedy show to be fun and entertaining,” Usher said.
Sara Cuadrado can be reached at 581-7942 or at slcuadrado@eiu.edu.