The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/19/09 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Ed Ryan B.J. Novak of 'The Office' shared his stand-up comedy act at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts Saturday night.

B.J. Novak gave his fans just what they wanted when he started off his UConn comedy show on Saturday night with a "that's what she said" joke.

Novak, a well-known actor and writer for the TV show "The Office", took the stage at Jorgenson and provided entertaining comic relief for an audience of about 1,700. Novak used his hour-long performance to satirize a wide variety of topics.

He joked about fluffy things such as procreating pandas, crass things such as 70 virgins in heaven, inspiring things such as Bill Nye and Wetzel and risqué things such as the idea of an adolescent God creating dinosaurs.

But Novak didn't just stand on stage and recite a laundry list of jokes.

He tested out his creations with the audience as well. He revealed the children's mystery novel that he was working on and read the first story that was titled "Wikipedia Brown and the Missing Bicycle." Peppered throughout the story were subtle references to the popular Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Then, Novak instigated a brief photo shoot as he allowed the audience to use flash photography on him and his adorable "shy puppet." He also presented the audience with short jokes that he had written down on note cards and used laughter to gauge whether the jokes should be kept for future use or thrown straight into the trash. The audience approved the majority of them.

"Battered women," Novak said. "Sounds delicious, but that doesn't make it right."

Another highlight of the comedy show was the phone call between Novak and

his cast mate Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly Kapoor on The Office. Novak

put his cell on speakerphone when Kaling asked him to search out the

attractive football players in the crowd. The audience was also able to

congratulate the actress for her recent stint in scriptwriting. The call

was full of glitches as Novak unknowingly hung up on Kaling and realized

that the dead silence on the other end of the line meant that no one was there.

But to hear Kaling's familiar chatter was a real treat, especially for all of "The Office" fans who were hoping that Novak would bring along John Krasinski or one of his other acting buddies to the performance. Throughout his performance, Novak addressed individual audience members who were shouting things at him. He denied that he was a liar after one woman shouted at him for his outlandish stories and he accused another individual for pretending to be a football player. He finally wrapped up his performance with a few more impressionable jokes. Directing his attention to any Alzheimer's patients in the theater Novak said, "don't pretend like you don't know who you are," but then jokingly expressed remorse for his tactlessness.

Before the spotlight fell on Novak, another comedian took the stage and entertained the audience. Paul Valentine, a member of the UConn Comedy Team, delighted the audience with anecdotes about Abercrombie hypnosis and hit-and-run deer that act like Jackie Chan.

"I thought he was a lot of fun," said Robert Gaudette, a 3rd-semeter pharmacy major. "I wasn't too excited about an opening act, but he did really well. I especially liked his sound effects."

Others reserved their praise for the main attraction of the show.

"I wasn't sure if B.J. Novak would be funny when going into the show, but his stand-up comedy was excellent," said Britta Kunkemoeller, a 6th-semester chemical engineering major.

"The panda skit was my favorite. I didn't know that pandas were endangered because they don't procreate," said Hien Le, a 3rd-semester physiology and neurobiology and chemistry double major.

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