The Laugh Off Finals, which took place last Friday in the Pioneer Chapel, was another sidesplitting night consisting of amateur college stand-up comics vying for the top spot at the event which raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. All of the money raised from the event goes directly to the charity.
The three finalists from Wabash, William Hohmeister, Jr. ‘09, Kyle Cassidy ‘08, and Grant Gussman ‘09, competed against two DePauw finalists. It was originally supposed to be three Wabash finalists versus three DePauw finalists but one of the Dannies had to drop out.
The comedians decided to use all new material and none of the Wabash men bombed. The first act of the night, Gussman, wanted to make sure he got a few things straight from last week’s show. “Last week I said Professor Morillo does drugs. He doesn’t. He just sells them now,” Gussman said.
The other two Wabash comedians, Cassidy and Hohmeister, faired pretty well and it would not have been a truly successful show without Hohmeister performing an encore of his smash dance routine to “Push It.” The crowd went wild again and two students jumped on stage with Hohmeister and joined in on the fun. The audience enjoyed every last minute of Hohmeister’s finale and the DePauw women sat in awe as the six-foot plus student gave them sexual stares.
The two DePauw contestants, both female, faired alright, but were unable to strike a chord with the audience and it showed when the time came to choose the winners.
After all five of the comedians finished their acts, they were rated by the audience based on the loudness of the spectators’ applause and shouting. In the end, all three of the Wabash comedians placed in the top three spots. Gussman came in at third; Cassidy second; and Hohmeister, predictably, nabbed the top spot with his offbeat jokes and striptease.
Tony Neymeiyer ’09 thoroughly enjoyed the event, especially Cassidy. “I liked Kyle Cassidy the best, but he just wasn’t able to keep up with the ‘star power’ of Mr. Hohmeister. Cassidy had the best jokes and timing of anyone and his jokes flowed effortlessly from one into the next,” Neymeiyer said. “The Laugh-Off was a fantastic event for numerous reasons. The show featured very funny people, and the material improved from the preliminary rounds to the finals. I greatly enjoyed all the Wabash comedians, while the Danny comediennes seemed to lack the audience support and humor that a laugh-monger ought to possess,” sophomore Ross McKinney said. “The introspective humor of Mr. Kyle Cassidy was quite hilarious, the references of the joys of lawbreaking were great from Mr. Grant Gussman, and the physical comedy and awkward hilarity certainly exuded from the ‘legitimate giant’ and winner of the event.”
Sophomore Asher Weaver, the president of Alpha Phi Omega, the organization that planned the event with DePauw’s chapter, was happy with this year’s turnout and the amount of money raised. “We don’t have exact numbers yet because money is still coming in. We’re estimating $300 from the preliminaries that were a week ago and $250 from the final. DePauw raised somewhere around $300 total,”
Weaver said. “We don’t have numbers on last year, because all the money we raised goes directly to the charity. We are guessing it was significantly less though.” The Laugh Off was a success on many levels and Alpha Phi Omega looks forward to next year and hopes the amount raised from the event will continue to grow in the future.