By Lana Lagomarsini, News staff

Comedian, actor and musician Hal Sparks made Northeastern students laugh last night.
Audiences were privy to Spark’s opinions of ‘sexting’ (sexual text messaging), his disdain for sweet tea and Starbucks, and why the elderly should not drive fast.
Sigma Delta Tau sorority sponsored the event, held in Blackman Auditorium. It was one of the first major events sponsored by the sorority to be held in the auditorium.
‘ ‘I think he has a different stage presence than other comedians do ‘hellip; we [Sigma Delta Tau] were really excited for him to come,’ said Sara Anthony, public relations chair for Sigma Delta Tau.
The event followed Day of Silence week, a series of events designed to raise gay awareness sponsored by Northeastern’s Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Association (NUBiLaGA). Sparks’ experience playing a homosexual in ‘Queer as Folk’ was a good introduction for his visit, Anthony said.
The audience of approximately 250 people filled about half the auditorium, some of whom were members of Greek life at Northeastern, but many of whom were fans of Sparks. ‘
‘Hal Sparks was very clever. His stand-up was very well thought out ‘-‘ [it was a] great performance,’ said Spencer Schlitt, a sophomore international business major.
Sparks is known best for his role as Michael Novonty on Showtime’s ‘Queer as Folk,’ appearing on VH1’s ‘I Love the’hellip;’ series and for hosting E!’s ‘Talk Soup’ from 1999 to 2000.
‘I think that he serves as a great role model ‘hellip; for him to have such a large presence with the gay community and for him to reach out to not only gays but straights,’ Anthony said.
Sparks said he has volunteered in soup kitchens and delivering hot meals to AIDS patients in the mid-1990s. He starred in ‘Queer as Folk’ and the ‘I Love the…’ series to bring more attention to the gay community, he said.
‘At a certain point, we’re overwhelmed by our own convictions, and we will allow gay people to live the life that they deserve,’ Sparks said.
Sparks’ act included topics like social taboos, reality TV, current events, masculinity and its social context and modern conveniences such as cell phones and text messaging.’ ‘
‘I think [my act] is about the human experience,’ Sparks said.
The event was one of two main events Sigma Delta Tau sponsors every year, and was put together by the social events chairs of the sorority.
‘We want to branch out to non-Greeks and try to reach to the whole community of Northeastern,’ Anthony said.
Sparks said he had been training to be a comedian since the age of 4, but that he didn’t fully understand the art until he moved to Chicago at the age of 14.
‘I grew up in a really small town in Kentucky and we didn’t have TV growing up, so I used to just listen to old comedy records,’ Sparks said.
Sparks is currently on tour, and has yet to come across a venue that has not been receptive to his performance.
‘ ‘I would love to [come back to Northeastern],’ Sparks said.