By Marian Daniells, news staff
Kappa Sigma’s Eighth Annual Comedy Night featuring Kevin Hart brought students from all corners of the campus together for knee-slapping laughter Sunday night.
Hart had the sold-out Blackman Auditorium in stitches when he performed Sunday night. The actor and comedian visited Northeastern’s campus as part of his “Laugh at My Pain” comedy tour.
The event was co-organized by Kappa Sigma, Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and the Resident Student Association (RSA).
“Pineapple,” said Hart, introducing the audience to his super secret word for communicating to women when he is not okay with their sexual behavior.
By drawing on his personal experiences – and failures – with family, women and sex, Hart made his stories relatable and kept students in stitches.
“After seeing his stand-up special on Comedy Central, I thought he was really funny,” said middler Tyler Dillman, major events chairman for Kappa Sigma fraternity. Dillman, a middler political science major, began work organizing and planning the event in mid-June.
“[Hart] was able to attract a large portion of the Northeastern community,” said junior business administration major Julien Levesque, treasurer for Kappa Sigma.
Opening acts included comedians Will “Spank” Horton, who doubled as the night’s host, and Na’im Lynn. Both men joked about college relationships and warmed up viewers’ diaphragms for the full-body laughter induced by Hart.
Dillman and Levesque attribute the event’s success to numerous factors.
“There was a lot of hard work put in,” Levesque said. “We had a lot of help from two great organizations and we used a lot of different mediums to advertise.”
The organizers promoted the event with a Facebook event page, club cards and, with the help of RSA, posters and signs in campus dorms.
“The huge reach of RSA was a big thing,” said Levesque, who also noted that help from Sigma Sigma Sigma and RSA meant that advertisements were able to reach a greater network of people.
“We helped by encouraging residents to go [to the event], since we have a stronger reach into the residence halls than Kappa Sigma does,” RSA Collaborations Chair Lauren Burroughs said.
Because multiple groups participated in organizing the event, the audience included students from various organizations and backgrounds.
“We reach a different body than Greek life typically does,” said Burroughs, a junior business marketing and supply chain major. “It was good to diversify.”
Dillman also credited much of the night’s success to the positive outcome of previous comedy nights. Past Annual Comedy Nights featured big name comedians including Seth Meyers, Bob Saget, Norm MacDonald and B.J. Novak.
“I thought it was great,” sophomore international business major Dan Stearns said of the event. “The warm-ups were great and Kevin Hart came out and stole the show. Everyone I went with enjoyed themselves.”
