A packed theater and a night of laughter were among the many highlights of a comedy show at Binghamton University last night.
Broken Lizard, a comedy troupe known for making the movies ‘Beerfest’ and ‘Super Troopers,’ performed about two hours of stand-up and improvisational skit comedy at the Anderson Center.
By the time of the show, the Student Association Programming Board had sold more than 1,000 tickets, a near-sellout, according to Aaron Cohn, SA vice president for programming.
After the Binghamton Crosbys opened for Broken Lizard, most of the show consisted of individual stand-up comedy in which the cast told personal stories.
Paul Soter, one of the members, performed a stand-up routine focused on what life on the road for a married man was like and the fun of traveling with his best friends.
‘We do a lot of goofy stuff,’ Soter said. ‘I got in the habit of lying to my wife about what we do on the road.’
Erik Stolhanske, who is called ‘Pickles’ by the other group members because he is always eating pickles, showed the audience his fake leg and started his routine by rotating his leg backwards.
‘I know people’s first reaction is to feel bad for me, but I learned at a very young age to use it as an advantage,’ Stolhanske said.
He told numerous stories about his experiences with women in college and how his fake leg helped him with his relationships.
‘It turned out this hunk of carbon graphite was the best wingman,’ he said.
‘Das Boot’ from the movie ‘Beerfest’ came from a combination of Erik’s fake leg and a glass boot in a bar that he and Steve Lemme lost a bet on.
Director Quentin Tarantino, who is a good friend of Broken Lizard, played homage to the boot in his recent film, ‘Inglorious Bastards.’
Lemme and Kevin Heffernan discussed issues involving genitalia.
Heffernan discussed having poison ivy on his genitalia. At the time, he was working at an outdoors job and learned that if he touched his body at any point, he would get poison ivy at that spot.
Lemme told a story about how he recently saw his father’s genitalia while they were by his pool. He said that it was something he had not seen in at least 20 years and that people do not realize how common it is to see when they are younger.
Lemme also did numerous impressions, including one of Robert DeNiro.
After successfully avoiding a large speeding ticket, Lemme said that he can confirm that police officers enjoyed ‘Super Troopers.’ According to Lemme, this incident showed him that he ‘can do whatever the fuck [he] wants.’
The group did three improvisational skits throughout the show.
In the first skit, they came out dressed like police officers and did a strip tease on a randomly selected audience member.
Their second skit mocked ‘Britain’s Got Talent,’ in which Heffernan represented Susan Boyle and the other three comedians were the judges.
Many students said that this skit was their favorite part of the show.
To end the night, the group dressed as Team USA and challenged the audience to a drinking contest with non-alcoholic beer.
Three students were chosen to be Team Germany and were told that if they won, they would be given a role in the next Broken Lizard film. However, Team Germany lost.
Students were very pleased with the performance.
‘It’s better watching them live than watching the movies,’ said Brenno Varanda, a graduate mechanical engineering student.
Another student thought this was one of the best events the University has had.
‘I am very happy that Binghamton allowed a much more relevant show to come that the student body can connect with,’ said Justin Lewis, a junior majoring in environmental studies.
The group confirmed that ‘Super Troopers 2’ has been written and is in the process of being made.
‘Super Troopers’ is often referred to as a cult movie, but the group was happy with this classification.
‘The definition of a cult movie is the kind of movie that you watch over and over again,’ Heffernan said.
All five members attended Colgate University for their undergraduate degrees, which is where they started their group.
‘It was great because we went to Colgate and there’s nothing like the group we created there,’ Heffernan said.
The members of Broken Lizard recommend that comedy groups should stick with it and continuously write material in order to be successful.
‘Make sure you do it with guys you like because it may mean hanging out with them for the next 20 years,’ Stolhanske said.