On Thursday, Nov. 7, CAB Comedy hosted its second show of the semester featuring stand-up comedians Mekki Leeper and Rachel Sennott. With a crowd of about 100 students, Leeper and Sennott filled the Events Barn with jokes about Hamilton College, audience members, and their own life experiences.
CAB Comedy Coordinator Olyvia Jasset ’22 opened the event with an introduction of Rachel Sennott. In her introduction, Jasset highlighted Sennott’s role on HBO’s “High Maintenance” and her work at Comedy Central. Sennott began her set with a joke about the “cabin vibes” given off by the interior design of the Events Barn, saying that it reminded her of “a magical Disney World enclosure.”
However, Sennott followed with the disclosure that she had had a “tear filled” train ride on her way to the Hill: after a toxic two year relationship, Sennott cut ties with her ex-boyfriend just a day after her birthday. Able to make light of her situation now, Sennot cracked jokes about her struggles but also admitted that it was difficult for her to confront her boyfriend. Sennott wondered about romance here on campus, so she asked Hannah Budner ’23 about her love life, and to Sennott and the audience’s surprise, Budner’s story sounded familiar: Budner had broken up with her last boyfriend the day after his birthday. The dialogue between the two, which lasted for a large portion of the show, “didn’t bother” Budner, who said “the spotlight was nice, I loved Rachel and I think she and I have a lot in common.”
Towards the end of her set, Sennott explained her struggle with social media criticism surrounding her career. She has such a difficult time dealing with the criticism that she now regularly sees a therapist. During one session, the therapist advised Sennott not to let “haters” get to her and instead let them be imaginary. In retrospect, Sennott wished she had responded, “How can they be imaginary when there is one sitting right across from me?”
Sennott concluded her show with a story about her working out in New York City. While getting ready to go for a run, she wondered whether her if she would get catcalled because of her outfit. Sennott got excited and was determined to view the catcall as a confidence booster. Instead, a homeless man munching on chips called her “ugly and cute” and threw his chips at her.
Next, Sennott introduced Leeper. A graduate of Temple University, Leeper has his own show on Comedy Central called “Control Room with Mekki Leeper,” and has appeared on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” Leeper started the set admitting that he had googled Hamilton prior to coming to campus so he could make a few jokes about the College. To his surprise, Hamilton’s Wikipedia page gave him some unexpected material. Leeper laughed that the College’s “biggest scandal [was] a president who had to step down because of plagiarism” because he was expecting it to be much more scandalous, exciting and newsworthy. Leeper was also baffled at the “sort of, kind of, maybe” characterization of Hamilton College’s greek life, as Wikipedia described greek organizations as “[maintaining] a significant (but not overwhelming) social presence, despite being non-residential.”
Leeper filled his set with personal anecdotes that ranged from funny experiences in grade school to the recent divorce of his parents.
One of his most traumatizing moments in grade school happened in fifth grade. A classmate crawled under the bathroom stall to see if Leeper was going “number two” so he could go back to class and make fun of him. Leeper laughs at it now, but also realized that this sort of childhood silliness is normal. He wondered what bullying will eventually look like given that the “emotionally softer youth” are getting older, like if “unreliable” will become the ultimate burn, or if kids will call out their classmates for having a “poor work ethic” to make them cry?
He then went on to describe the details of his parents’ divorce. The family only recently learned of his father’s affair, even though it lasted for several years of Leeper’s childhood. In Leeper’s experience, people have not been sympathetic about the divorce because it happened during his adulthood. However, Leeper can now find humor in talking about his dad’s affair.
Andie Mechanic ’23 said these jokes were her favorite moments of the night and called Leeper “a genuinely very talented comedian.” Lucy Kiernat ’23 commented that “Mekki was really funny, especially when he joked about how boring Hamilton is.”
