In a surprisingly refreshing change of pace, RWU’s final comedian for the annual Spring Week event was stand up comedian Chris Redd, who left no stone unturned or audience member unscathed. 

Best known for being a main cast member on the weekly sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live since 2017, Redd’s performance on Friday, April 29 was, if nothing else, memorable. 

Redd began the show by comparing the RWU campus to a suburb, and saying he did not know where he was when he got out of the car, making fun of how Bristol is an obscure town from Redd’s perspective, given that he performs all over the country.

The comedian spent most of his time on stage poking fun at the audience, in particular a group of male students sitting by themselves, who he jokingly referred to as “Boyz II Boyz” throughout the show, cracking up the audience. He also asked several members of the audience specific questions like “why are you here” and “what did you want to be when you were a little kid?” and then roasting them for their response. 

Redd also made remarks about how few BIPOC students there are at RWU, jokingly taking the time to count each BIPOC student he saw in the crowd, with the audience laughing at the truth in what he said. He also mentioned on several occasions that he had smoked marijuana before the show, which caused him to forget what he was saying in mid sentence and start laughing on multiple occasions. This included telling the audience about a time where he took an edible before getting on a plane, and it was so strong he had to ask the flight attendant where the plane was going.

In addition to his raunchy humor, Redd also made some very poignant remarks, in particular asking BIPOC students in the crowd about what their experience at RWU was like, and told them to “keep [their] head up,” and said he wanted to perform here again in the future.

While Redd’s style of humor might not be everyone’s cup of tea, the majority of those that attended were kept in stitches throughout the show, and gave Redd a well deserved round of applause as he left. 

In a time of such uncertainty and crisis, being able to escape from reality for even just an hour and laugh your head off can be incredibly rewarding, and Redd certainly gave that to the RWU crowd that night.