Adding a stand-up comedy performance at Cabrini College to his already impressive resumé, Tom Cotter hit the stage for CAP Board’s Funny Bone Friday. Touching on subjects such as the life-saving Top Ramen for college students and the bitter coldness of the night’s event, Cotter’s humor was delivered so fast that if you blinked, you missed it.
Performing in Jazzman’s Café, Cotter engaged most of the audience in his bit by encouraging them to laugh at themselves and those around.
Riffing on the school’s current weather conditions, Cotter said, “It’s so cold here my nipples got here five minutes before I did.”
CAP Board hosted the event that was held on Friday, Feb. 19 at 9 p.m., with vanilla ice cream and all the makings for the perfect sundae for those in attendance.
“He liked to ask the audience what they wanted to talk about and really made it funny. He would call out people in the audience and innocently make fun of them,” Kelsey Kastrava, sophomore communication major, said.
Cotter even stabbed at his own professional career as a comedian, which most comedians will agree can be an uphill battle at times.
“Yeah sure, being a comedian is great if you love poverty,” Cotter smirked.
Cotter also went on about dealing with generation gaps while performing for college students, whereas at a corporate function he has to find the line between what’s appropriate and what’s not for the boss.
“One kid came up to me after my show and said, ‘That was the s— dude!’ Since when did s— mean good?” Cotter said.
Cotter has made quite a name for himself in the comedy world, performing skits on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and showcasing his stand-up on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He’s also had his own special on “Comedy Central Presents” and currently has his own show, “TWO FUNNY,” which can be seen on the Woman’s Entertainment Network.
Cotter was also the winner of the “Seattle International Stand-Up Comedy Competition” by the “largest margin of victory in the history of the event,” the Boston Herald said.
Having created such a name for himself, Cotter’s reputation as an in-your-face type of comedian has taken him oversees to perform in London and Beijing.
“It was difficult at first to get used to all the nuances of Beijing’s culture, but you observe them for a while and pick them up easily,” Cotter said.
Comedians will run into hecklers, which are people in the audience who disrupt the comic’s performance by trying to be funnier than the comedian or focusing the audience’s humor onto the comedian.
After joking about dachshunds with their long bodies and short legs, Cotter said a woman left his audience in a fit of rage.
“She started yelling about how her dog had just died, and stormed out of the place. She eventually wrote the club expressing her hatred towards me and how I was insensitive. We all laughed about it because honestly, it’s comedy. You’re supposed to laugh,” Cotter said.
Cotter’s influences include the late Johnny Carson and George Carlin, whom described Cotter as “Terrific, I really mean that,” Carlin said.
