Though Cohen Auditorium is used as one of Tufts' largest classrooms for such subjects as Biology and Art History, midget pornography and mime sex were the hot topics of discussion Thursday night. Comedian Jay Mohr, as well as Tufts' own groups Hype! and Cheap Sox, entertained the sell-out crowd for more than two hours.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m., darkness fell upon the crowd. As the first notes of the Beastie Boys' "Hey Ladies" came over the public address system, a crowd of mimes, clad in traditional black clothing and white face makeup, took over the stage. These were the members of Hype!, Tufts' mime troupe. Entitled "Thirstin' For A Virgin," the short skit described the sexual exploits of a young couple. Vaudevillian in many of its stage directions, "Thirstin'" served its purpose - at least people laughed.
The Cheap Sox then stole the show. Their performance began with a hilarious video, in which two Sox interacted with headliner Jay Mohr using clips from Jerry Maguire. The video portrayed Mohr as a psychopathic killer who repeatedly insisted that he would "rape and pillage" Tufts. Ingenious and cinematically well done, the video inspired laughter and put the crowd in the mood for a comedy show.
Next, the Sox served up a selection of its improvisational skits. First, the troupe sent director Sean Cusick out of the room and asked the audience to help it come up with a crime to accuse him of. After a few ticket holders participated, Cusick was brought back into the room and interrogated by two other Sox members until he admitted to the unknown crime: eating tomatoes in a Tisch bathroom. A few short skits followed, each of which depended heavily on timing and on-the-fly thinking. Among the subject areas covered were prosthetic appendages, midget porn, and the members' religious differences. This genuinely funny performance by the Sox was, for many, the highlight of the evening.
Comedian Jay Mohr then took over the stage, and proved himself an unstoppably energetic comedian. A large portion of Mohr's energy was purely sexual - he took advantage of Hype!'s performance throughout his set, frequently referring back to the theme of mime sex. He violated the sanctity of his marriage, offering the crowd some undesired information about his sex practices.
Because Mohr was on stage for well over an hour, he had the liberty to include some of his more offensive material in his set. He had no qualms about saying phrases such as "I would literally piss green water out of my ass." Still, his ability to play off the crowd's reactions helped him to keep the audience engaged. When a photographer's flash caught him feigning masturbation, he exclaimed, "Go ahead! Get a picture of me jerkin' off onstage...you already got one of me humping my stool." Many found his abrasive style of humor offensive and left the show early.
For the majority of the crowd, though, Mohr's energy was well received. He pranced around on stage, repeatedly humped his stool, interacted with some audience members (especially some members of the football team), and offended even more of them. His jokes about the Spice Girls may have seemed dated, but his mockery of elementary school "movie days" ("Know how to tell when your teacher's hung over?") was hilarious, complete with a true-to-life impression of a reel-to-reel projector.
When the crowd dispersed shortly after 11:30 p.m., Mohr remained on hand backstage, distributing publicity photos from his cancelled Fox series, Action. He later visited a party at the Arts Haus on Talbot Avenue before leaving the Tufts campus.
Though each of Thursday night's performers offered markedly different brands of comedy, their acts meshed together well. Hype!'s miming, Cheap Sox's improvisation, and Mohr's raunchy comedy kept the crowd laughing for two hours straight. Most importantly, the Fall Comedy Show gave the Tufts community the chance to see fellow students and a nationally renowned comedian perform on the same stage - ours.
