VH1 enlivens Midd weekend with hit show

Author: Mike Murali

Friday, April 14, Middlebury played host to VH1's Best Week Ever Live. Students turned out at Pepin Gymnasium to see four comedians poking fun at the week's events. Among the lineup was Midd Alum Jessica St. Clair '98.

Those who tune in regularly would have recognized the format: noteworthy comedians look at clips from the week's events in popular culture and comment on them. Something similar occurred this past Friday as clips were projected on a big screen set up in the middle of the gym while the four hosts generated witty commentary.

The show was divided into two halves, the first consisting of standup performances from each of the stars and the second the actual Best Week Ever portion.

The lineup included Mike Britt, Aziz Ansari and Pete Holmes, in addition to St. Clair. Each comedian showcased his or her own brand of humor. Jokes ranged from St. Clair reading descriptive passages of sex between a modern woman and a Medieval Celtic warrior to Ansari and Britt's racially-fueled styles.

Following the standup, Best Week Ever really got going with "In Case You Missed It," which covered the week's best moments in television with commentary from the panelists. Clips included a cheerleader who fell from the top of a pyramid and continued her cheer as she was being carried away on a stretcher and a somewhat disturbing Unicef ad involving the Smurf village being cluster bombed and baby Smurf being left abandoned (It's a real ad that was running in Eastern Europe). There was even a clip of Tyra Banks being felt up by a doctor to determine if she had real or fake breasts.

After this, the comedians turned to the audience, asking Midd students what they wanted to hear about. Responses were fairly varied and each received a fair amount of attention. Among the shout- outs was "Snakes on a Plane," the upcoming movie starring Samuel L. Jackson about, well, snakes on a plane (it's really self-explanatory).

Finally, four people were pulled up on stage and given the chance to prove that they had the best week ever. The winner for the Best Week Ever at Middlebury was first-year Amelia Magistrali for hitting a three-run home run in her softball game that week.

Both MCAB and Middlebury's own sketch comedy group the Brothel were responsible for bringing the event to campus. Said Colleen Sullivan, Special Committee Chair for MCAB, about the event, "Basically I am happy with the way the show went, the group had a great time here and Jessica was very excited to be back…I feel the crowd that came was happy with the show and will look forward to watching them on television and remembering that night."

St. Clair reminisced about Middlebury during her standup routine, talking about her memories of such landmarks as Proctor and Homestead House. After graduating, she went on to a fairly successful acting career. She has appeared on "The Colin Quinn Show," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Things I Hate About You" in addition to "Best Week Ever" and the 2004 film "Terrorists: The Movie."

The event was spurred by last year's comedy shows with Christian Finnegan and Greg Giraldo. When the former could not make it back this year, MCAB decided to book the Best Week Ever tour since Finnegan is a regular on the program.

Sullivan noted, "In addition to Best Week Ever, we are bringing in Stevie Starr, a professional regurgitator, on April 28 and hypnotist Tom Deluca on May 5."

While the turnout to the event may not have been as large as expected, it was still fairly significant. "It isn't easy to get a large crowd out to comedy nights here," commented Sullivan.

Best Week Ever airs Fridays at 11 p.m., EDT, on VH1.