Senior sociology major Harrison George performs at UAC’s Last Comic Standing last Thursday in the Memorial Union Colonial Ballroom. George was judged the winner by Pete Lee who was on NBC’s 6th season of Last Comic Standing. Sisi Huang/The Bulleyin.

Union Activities Council presented a Last Comic Standing competition in which several Emporia State student took the stage. Pete Lee, competitor on season six of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, hosted show.

“We met Pete Lee at the (National Association for Campus Activities) convention in the fall and we thought he would be a really fun act to bring to ESU,” said Lainie Harber, junior communications major and UAC president.

Competition organizers said that Last Comic Standing is a good way to bring a fun and enthusiastic influence to campus and to give students an opportunity to have fun and participate in an interesting event.

“We know we have many funny students at ESU and we thought it would be fun to have a comedy competition as a UAC event,” Harber said.

Each contestant had a 20 minutes to perform. First place went to Harrison George, senior sociology major.

“I have always been a huge fan of stand-up comedy and I’ve tried it a few times in the past, so I really wanted to see what it’d be like to compete,” George said.

George said that laughter is a great stress-reliever and he always tries to find humor in everything he does.

“I have been doing improvisational comedy for seven years and I’m a member of the improv team here at ESU. I’ve done stand up for about a year, in Emporia and the K.C. area,” George said. “Life can be really tough sometimes and if you can’t make yourself laugh then it’s only that much tougher.”

The competition was started by Pete Lee’s performance.

The show was split into four sections for each of the contestants, Chance Henson, Ryan Lickteig, Kevin Dudzinski and Harrison George.

Lickteig, freshman English major, said the competition was amazing and all the contestants should be content.

“I’d have to say my grandfather and my dad were very influential, they are hilarious and very rare people; they take life as it comes and enjoy every minute of it,” Lickteig said. “They always told me I have strong opinionated views and that I use good humor in expressing my views. Hearing them saying that was definitely influential. Also I just enjoying performing and making people laugh.”

Lickteig has a strong desire to write and enjoys entertaining people. He thought the preparation for the competition helped him get reactions to his writing and ideas.

“I write all my material. I like seeing how people react to my jokes/humor; it is interesting and good building blocks for an aspiring comedian,” Lickteig said. “In most of my material I like to address social problems, yet make it comical to show life shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Also I like making characters and becoming them during my performance.”

Lee, who has devoted 14 years on comedy, showed audience members just how excellent they were.

“It was amazing. Everyone who performed was incredibly talented. I was crying I was laughing so hard. And the audience was the most fun-loving, supportive crowd I have ever seen. They were obviously there to have a good time,” George said. “I had a lot of fun, that’s for sure. What I love about stand up is you get a little better every time you do it; you learn what works and what doesn’t and you take that with you the next time around. It keeps me excited to keep performing because I feel I always have room to progress and get better.”

George said he hoped to move out to Chicago or LA and started a career in comedy. Holding his own late night talk show has been his lifelong dream since he was nine.

After the competition, Lee offered advice for each contestant’s own standup.

“I love the students here,” Lee said. “Their comedy is really funny. I think the four of them have potential. It was a tough choice for me to judge them tonight, cause how can you judge variety of people who are really funny. My only advice to them is keep doing this. Stick to your dream, enjoy this and write a lot, and try to be ridiculous successful.”

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