CAB Sponsors Comedian Leonard Robinson

By: Stephanie Turaj
Posted In: News

Students that trudged through the snow and cold on Tuesday, Jan. 25 were rewarded with an evening of laughter. Comedian Leonard Robinson performed in the DiStefano Lecture Hall as part of this semester’s CAB Comedy series. The night was filled with random jokes including topics on Facebook, racism, Lady Gaga and dating.

“I rented a crappy car for 40 dollars and slid down here from Boston,” began Robinson that night, a fitting start for the wintry night. Not all of Robinson’s jokes seemed so in place, however.

“I like killing bugs. Is that weird?” Robinson blurted out randomly, right after telling a story about his childhood in Japan. Robinson then apologized and admitted he’s random while the audience busted into laughter.

“I always try and come up with a unified set, and I always forget,” said Robinson. “I go with what people are feeling. If they’re into the Facebook jokes, I pump it out.” The audience seemed to love most jokes, although Robinson quickly ended political jokes that weren’t receiving as much laughter.

“I write a lot of stuff on specific stuff, like race material,” said Robinson. Many of his jokes were about growing up as a black kid in Connecticut, and he joked about how his nickname was “chocolate chip.” Although there’s no telling which of his jokes are fully true, Robinson said that many of his jokes are written from personal experience.

“I wait for things to happen,” said Robinson. “I wait for things to affect me and I go, ‘where’s the comedy in this?'” He told jokes about his parents and how they would fight about silly things, which he said was true, as well a tale about how a girl who stabbed him in the back with a pair of scissors when he was younger, and who recently added him as a friend on Facebook.

Robinson has been on MTV’s comedy show “Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ‘N Out” and the ESPN mini-series “The Bronx is Burning”. He has also made appearances in commercials, television, and films, according to his website.

Robinson is originally from Danbury, Conn. He has studied and performed with The Groundlings and Improv Olympic in Los Angeles, and Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and Los Angeles.

Vianis Debarros, a junior and member of the CAB Comedy committee said the committee looks for comedians to perform at Salve before the semester begins. There are a few weeks of research that usually goes into selected comedians, including watching YouTube videos of past performances. The next comedian will be escape artist Brian Rudo on Feb. 22.