Kennedy Shaefer

Antelope staff

Andy Erikson of NBC’s Last Comic Standing fame began her stand-up act last Thursday evening by asking the audience funny questions, creating laughter throughout the Fine Arts Recital Hall.

“I was talking to one of my friends the other day and she said to me: I spent $70 to fill my tank.” Erikson began, in a quirky tone. “I said to her; woah! You drive a tank?!” The audience burst into laughter again and again as Erikson proceeded to tell more jokes.

The show wasn’t all squirrels, unicorns and witty jokes; Erikson pointed out early on in the show that she has a heart condition called Marfan Syndrome that causes chronic pain. “When I’m on stage and I haven’t had a good day because of my back pain or something like that, I don’t feel any pain. You’re in the moment, living in the moment.” Erikson said.

Erikson went on to tell the audience about having to wear a back brace when she was younger, which resulted in her being made fun of by her peers. She changed the narrative through joking about her experience as a child. “I’d be like ‘Mom the kids are making fun of me,’ and she would go: ‘Oh they’re just jealous because they just wish they had a cool place to put magnets.’”

During the show, Erikson challenged LPAC’s advisor, Tim Danube, to join her on stage for a one-liner battle. Audience members cheered and laughed as they went back and forth with one liners. Tim held onto his Loper pride and took the final win. “Woah, que mic drop!” Erikson said, laughing as Tim told his last one liner, sending the audience into roars of laughter.

“My favorite part of the night was the one liner battle,” said Rylee Jones, a senior elementary education and early childhood inclusive major from Columbus and member of LPAC.

As her stand-up set drew to a close, Erikson invited the audience members to a brief meet-and-greet. Students and community members took photos, talked about their favorite jokes from the show and purchased Erikson’s CD, featuring her new podcast, “Deal With It.”

“I enjoyed seeing everyone having a fun time and laughing,” said Lupe Perez, a freshman art K-12 education major from Ogallala with a minor in speech/theatre 7-12 education.