By Maximillian C. Burgos
Sports Editor
The night of the annual “3 For Free” comedy show was full of laughs, one liners and relatable stories. Comedians Ramy Youssef, Ricky Velez and Anna Drezen really brought the house down with their jokes and crowd interactions. The night of Thursday, Aug. 31, was a night to remember.
Youssef has starred in movies such as “Why Him?” with Robert De Niro and was on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.
Youssef kicked the night off in a subtle but comical way when he joked about modern events, his life experiences and a few of his own failures in a very straight-forward yet subdued manner.
The comedian made the night go from good to great when he began interacting with the crowd. A student walked into the show 20 minutes late, soldered his way into the front row and sat in front of Youssef, shortly after Youssef had joked about risk takers. Youssef could not keep quiet.
“What’s up man how have you been,” he said to the audience member. “You don’t care. You walk in 20 minutes late and you walk right up to the front row. I wanna be you. You don’t give a shit. I wish I could do something like that.”
Velez’s approach to comedy was a little more aggressive than Youssef’s.
While Youssef kept the laughs going with his audience banter, Velez cracked very different jokes during his time onstage. Velez, known for his work on “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” on Comedy Central, does not pull punches. He knows how to poke fun at himself — if his jokes about racism and being a paranoid stoner were any less funny, they would fall far too close to home.
Drezen is a different beast altogether. She is known for being one of the “50 funniest people in Brooklyn,” according to Brooklyn Magazine. Drezen is also a writer for “Saturday Night Live.”
She draws lots of laughs with her ability to almost catch you off guard with her jokes about herself and situational awareness.
She also makes awkward gestures and movements on stage while performing that draw laughs all on their own. All three acts were funny and memorable.
The attendance was a little sparse, but it was not due to lack of talent between the three comedians. They prepared well, and were really worth the time they put on stage.
The audience laughed at almost every joke cracked by the three comedians.
There were a few moments that invoked a little sympathetic emotion from audience members, but overall the night was enjoyable.
Sophomore physics major Allison Glantzberg enjoyed the show immensely and was glad that she went.
“I thought it was cool how he (Youssef) interacted with the audience,” she said. “He was able to make personal experiences funny without being degrading, and it made the performance engaging and relatable.”
