By Alex LaCasse
The line ran out the door and past the Munger Life Sciences Building as Northeastern students packed into afterHOURS Tuesday night for a chance to meet Internet meat-head, Dom Mazzetti.
Dom is really New York University graduate Mike Tornabene’s YouTube character from New Jersey who rants and rambles about everything from gym buddies to the economy.
Tornabene and his comedic partner and childhood friend, Gian Hunjan, a Temple University graduate, were invited to come speak to students by Kappa Sigma fraternity as part of their comedy showcase. NUTV co-sponsored the Dom Mazzetti event.
Once the crowd settled, Tornabene and Hunjan took questions from audience members for the first hour of the event, and Dom Mazzetti himself even joined the forum and answered some questions as only he could. Afterward, the duo took time to
meet with students, sign autographs and take pictures.
“It was cool to get to know the actor behind the character,” Don Wright, a third year engineering major said. “I studied abroad, and ‘Dom Mazzetti vs. Study Abroad’ is hilarious just because he makes it so relatable.”
Tornabene and Hunjan spoke about how they began their comedy act back in 2006 when they began writing scripts together. According to Hunjan, their breakthrough came about two years ago when they made a series of online videos about the first batch of the alcoholic drink Four Loko, which had just hit liquor stores across the country.
Their videos depicted poor decisions made after consuming the beverage, and began trending on Facebook.
That summer a friend would use the prank call alias, Dom, to annoy their other friend. This alias became the inspiration behind the character, Tornabene said. They gave him an Italian-American accent and Dom Mazzetti was born.
“Dom says what everybody is thinking, and he can make it funny,” freshman Sofya Roytburg said. “I like him because he is not afraid of saying something controversial.”
Eric Wilcox, third year finance major and event chairman for Kappa Sigma, said he began the process of bringing Dom to the university last May. Knowing he needed to find a talent for Kappa Sig’s first function, Wilcox said he was inspired by watching one of Mazzetti’s videos.
“I wanted to put a spin on this. I did not want an event where a DJ comes in and does a two-hour set and no one comes,” Wilcox said. “I saw they had booking information at the end of their video, so I just emailed them and that same day I was able to speak with Gian about coming to campus.”
Usually Tornabene and Hunjan do not give live performances but Wilcox was able to convince them to come talk about their comedy and being viral video celebrities. Kappa Sigma then asked NUTV to co-sponsor the event.
Wilcox knew the event was coming together when he saw the “Dom vs. Texting” video two months ago. In the video, Dom revealed a place in his heart for the university. He explained to his viewers how he would simply text a girl and falsely tell her he was a Northeastern student taking part in the “co-op” program.
“That was a big ego boost for us when I saw that in the video,” Wilcox said.
According to NUTV President Laura Sims, more than 600 students said they would attend the event on Facebook.
Though the turnout didn’t quite reach 600, Wilcox was still pleased with the students’ reception of Tornabene and Hunjan.
The event was capped at 276 students; many were turned away once afterHOURS reached capacity, with students coming and going throughout the show.
“More events like this will appear on campus,” Wilcox said. “We had a near-capacity crowd and everybody in attendance seemed to have enjoyed the show.”
