"Saturday Night Live" comedian Colin Jost visited Elon University for a comedy show presented by the Student Union Board (SUB) in McCrary Theatre Wednesday night.
Jost was introduced by senior Rebecca Hurd with her own act where she commented on tips about surviving Elon, drawing from her own experience. This was Hurd’s third time doing stand up, and she received a strong response from the audience.
After Hurd warmed up the crowd, Jost walked onstage and went straight into Elon-related jokes.
“I’ve mostly been riding the BioBus all day," Jost said. "It’s just been a great way to get around, except I thought it had to do with biology and students studying each others’ bodies."
Jost pulled up a list of random Elon facts and gave his opinion of the school he’d never heard of before. Jost brought up his confusion of the word “Elon” being Hebrew for the word "oak." Yet he was amused Elon was founded as a Christian college. He jokes the name should really be Hebrew for “What are we doing in North Carolina in the middle of nowhere?”
Jost moved on to pop culture and how radio stations make music clean. Despite Jost’s undergraduate education at Harvard, he admitted it took him six years to realize Will.i.am was simply William with two dots in the middle of it.
At the mention of Donald Trump, the entire audience went silent except for some booing. This spurred Jost to go off about his viewpoint of the Republican presidential candidate as a cartoon character.
This past year as a news anchor for the "SNL" Weekend Update, Jost met Trump on the show and found Trump walking on set with no advisers or security.
Jost touched on a variety of other topics as well, including immigration in the United States, his personal computer issues and his chubbiness as a child. He also emphasized his love life and past relationships.
“When you’re dating someone, you’re like, 'It must be so nice to be single,'" Jost said. "And then you’re single and you’re like, 'Yeah, this is really nice.'"
Later in the show, Jost asked the crowd of college students if many were in a relationship. Few responded. After he asked if anyone used online dating apps, one student excitedly shouted, “Christian Mingle." This reminded Jost of his own original idea of developing a site called “Christian Shingles," which would allow Christians seeking others with shingles to find love.
Jost read his many other sketch ideas following "Christian Shingles," including a game show about CVS called, “Who actually works here?” He then joked there is a never a worker present whenever he walks into the pharmacy.
The final joke of the night included Jost singing parodies in light of another sketch that was never produced about the combination of Weird Al Yankovic and Elton John as an artist called Weird El Tonovic.
After the conclusion of the show, many students said they enjoyed watching the show.
“It’s great that SUB was able to bring a comedian to Elon who is so well known,” said freshman Felicia Salden. “I really liked how his material included Elon references and was just hilarious.”