"Despite small crowd, senior comedy night a success"

On April 24, graduating seniors received a gift from UB in the Student Union Theater as comedian Dwayne Perkins celebrated the countdown to commencement.

The Senior Comedy Night was one of the numerous activities planned and sponsored by the office of Student Life as part of senior week.

Student life gave out approximately 170 tickets for the comedy night to the graduating class, and was handing out additional tickets at the door. Out of 170 tickets, roughly 50 students showed up.

"I liked it, it was funny, and I plan on attending all senior activities up until graduation," said Melissa Yochman, a senior health and human services major.

Kevin Carlin, a prominent local comedian and UB '03 Alumni was the opening act for Perkins.

There was a half-hour delay with both comedians, but the crowd didn't seem to mind.

"Both were funny. Kevin broke the ice, it's tough to come out in a small crowd - he deserved a bigger crowd," said Rebecca Lippner, a senior nursing major.

Perkins is a Brooklyn native and is a young vet to the comedy game. He has made appearances on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "The Late Late Show" and "Premium Blend."

Dwayne is a regular crowd pleaser in New York, Boston and Los Angeles and has recently performed in his own Comedy Central half hour special.

"I wanna get in shape like those '300' guys," Perkins said when asked about his future plans.

Comedian Dwayne Perkins incorporated students from the crowd into his act, asking them questions about UB as well as making them the butt of a few jokes.

"I'm not sure how it was advertised, but he was able to entertain the crowd," said Hida Anyanwu, a second-year graduate student.

The comedy special was open to the approximately 4,800 graduating seniors of all majors. Student Life gave seniors one last chance to sign the Buffalo Bull, to be on display during graduation.

This was Perkins' first time at UB, but not his first time in Buffalo.

He said he plans on staying in Buffalo for three days and wants to visit Toronto and Anchor Bar while he is in town.

Perkins will be visiting 20 to 30 colleges in the next year, and would like to visit UB again, hopefully with a larger crowd.

"I wish there was a bigger turn out, but the crowd was very supportive," Perkins said.

Dwayne can be seen in an upcoming cameo for the HBO movie "Gristle" and plans on working with The Learning Channel in the future.