Comedian Jamie Kennedy performs at B-port

“That’s Epic Meal Time on bath salts!” Jamie Kennedy exclaimed to the already laughing crowd. “It’s a carbohydrate death trap!”

Kennedy was referring to Jimmy Z’s famous — or perhaps infamous — garbage plate, and in the spirit of humor the small crowd was more than willing to join with Kennedy in making fun of Brockport food, bars and majors. Though the $1 tickets only drew about 280 people to the box office, those who attended the event Tuesday, Oct. 23 certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.

“I didn’t realize he was in Malibu’s Most Wanted,” said senior Phil Kirkland, before the show started. “When I found out he was in that, I really wanted to come see him. I just want to hear an impression of B-Rad!”

The performance was opened with lukewarm standup by Dario Josef, the third place finalist in the “Funniest Person in Rochester Contest.” Considering Josef’s recycled jokes, punch lines borrowed from Internet memes and anecdotes with no punch line at all, the crowd gave him generous encouragement.

When Kennedy took the stage, however, there was a palpable difference in the excitement of the audience. He started off with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, reading some less-than-flattering tweets about him by Brockport students and making pointed references to the extreme cheapness of the event tickets.

However, Kennedy didn’t only make fun of himself. He drew the crowd into mocking Brockport’s overabundance of greasy fast food, the excessive amount of physical education majors and the college’s rumored No. 2 ranking in STDs. He also playfully harassed Josef and a few brave members of the audience.

Kennedy didn’t disappoint those who were hoping for some character impressions. He quoted Malibu’s Most Wanted and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle multiple times, much to the uproarious delight of fans. He also tried out what he said was a new game, saying “I like my women like I like my…” and allowing audience members to shout out random nouns to complete the sentence. Kennedy was then challenged to draw a comparison between a woman and the chosen nouns, some of which included meatloaf, weed and Ellsworth.

“I really enjoyed it,” said junior Anthony Droegmoeller. “I liked when he engaged with the audience, especially the ‘I like my women’ game.’”

While many attendees knew Kennedy from Malibu’s Most Wanted, a few of them appreciated his other work as well.

“I know him from Son of the Mask and The Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” said sophomore Emily Tanner. “I liked all of his jokes. It was great.”

While Malibu’s Most Wanted and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle might contain some of Kennedy’s more memorable roles, he got his break in the Scream series as Randy Meeks. He has played a variety of small roles and had some short stints in dramas like Ghost Whisperer and Criminal Minds. Kennedy also recently completed Lost and Found in Armenia, a comedy co-starring Angela Sarafyan (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part II) which will be released later this year. He is the co-host of a game show on the CW television network called Oh Sit! Kennedy also said he’s working on a series with a new character.

“I want to expand my wings,” Kennedy said. “I don’t want to be doing fart jokes forever.”

However, Kennedy said he believes a comedian should always be able to laugh at himself, and he still appreciates doing college tours even though students are not the most dependable audience.

“For the dollar show that was tonight, the crowd was awesome,” Kennedy said. “It was fun last time [I was in Brockport] and it was fun this time.”


cvair1@brockport.edu