The Student Association (SA) Programming Board is bringing three TV-famous comedians to campus for this year’s Family Weekend comedy show.
Set to headline the annual show, which was announced on Aug. 10, is “Saturday Night Live” actor Colin Quinn, whose performance will follow comedians Joe List of “Conan” and Chris Gethard of “The Chris Gethard Show.”
Quinn, an Emmy Award-nominated comedian and writer, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began pursuing comedy at age 25 in 1984, and landed his breakout role in 1987 as an announcer on the MTV game show “Remote Control.” He acted in “Saturday Night Live” from 1995 to 2000, and was most known for playing the anchor of “Weekend Update.” He also hosted Comedy Central’s “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn” from 2002 to 2004. More recently, he played the father of Amy Schumer’s character in the 2015 film “Trainwreck,” as well as a recurring role on HBO’s “Girls.” His off-Broadway show, “Colin Quinn: The New York Story,” and his comedy special, “Colin Quinn: Unconstitutional,” are both available on Netflix.
Joe List began his comedy career as a teenager in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. He was a finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” in 2015 and has since been featured on Comedy Central’s “Half Hour” and CBS’ “The Late Show with David Letterman.” In 2011, he released his first comedy album, “So Far No Good,” and followed up with a sophomore effort, “Are You Mad at Me?” in 2016. List is also the co-host of the weekly podcast, “Tuesdays with Stories,” alongside comedian Mark Normand.
Chris Gethard was raised in West Orange, New Jersey and began pursing comedy while he was a student at Rutgers University. He took classes at Manhattan’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where he later became a part of their long-form improvisation group, The Stepfathers. In addition to stand-up, Gethard wrote a book in 2012 titled “A Bad Idea I’m About to Do: True Tales of Seriously Poor Judgment and Stunningly Awkward Adventure.” Gethard’s most recent success is his eponymous variety show, “The Chris Gethard Show,” which was picked up by TruTV last year.
The performers will each have their own separate acts, with Joe List serving as the host for the evening. Due to the number of professional comedians in this year’s show, there will not be any student openers, as there have been in previous years.
Libby Aliberti, SA vice president for programming and a senior majoring in biology, has been working on the comedy show since May and sent out a student survey at the end of last spring semester to poll students on their top picks for the show. She said that, though this lineup wasn’t the first choice of those who responded to the survey, she’s happy with the selection.
“We tried for a few other people first that were unavailable on our date,” Aliberti said. “It’s a little tough because the Family Weekend date is set in stone. [But] Colin Quinn’s a great act. He’s been on ‘SNL’ and he has Netflix specials right now. Their dynamic looks like it’s going to be fun.”
The Family Weekend comedy show will be held on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. in the Events Center. Tickets are not available at the time of publication; check bupipedream.com for updates and meet-and-greet information as it becomes available.