Comedian Rich Vos Makes Stellar Appearance at SBU

By Ian Rice
Arts and Lifestyle Editor


My first introduction to comedian Rich Vos came in 2001, when he appeared on the infamous "Opie and Anthony Show," then broadcasting on New York City's WNEW-FM. Introduced to the show by friend and fellow comic Jim Norton, Vos proceeded to make a legendary appearance in which he recapped his adventures with his buddy Norton in the various peepbooths that make up Southern New Jersey. It was one of the funniest segments in the history of radio and secured Vos' standing as a show regular. Since then, Vos has given the "Opie and Anthony Show" countless hours of radio gold, as well as appeared on both seasons of NBC's "Last Comic Standing" and as a featured panelist on the now-cancelled Comedy Central gem "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn."

But Vos' best work has always been done on the stand-up circuit. This was made perfectly clear when he appeared at the SAC Ballroom this past Thursday night. As a part of this semester's ongoing "Comedy Series," Vos easily proved that he is one of the best comedians working these days. His set was offensive, off-color and relentless...everything a comedy show should be. However, in the cravenly PC days of 2005, those qualities are also everything that most college students are against.

Enter the one flaw with Vos' appearance at the SAC: dishonesty. It became abundantly clear to me while watching Thursday night's performance that a good number of Stony Brook's student body likes to conduct themselves with an air of pompous, politically-correct dishonesty that is bascially Kryptonite for anything in the realm of fun. As Vos continually poked fun at the race and/or sexual orientation of various audience members, other spectators left their seats and exited the venue. The few that were questioned by Vos about the reason for their exit revealed that they had been offended. One girl, whose "holier-than-thou" attitude toward Vos' questioning was probably a victory in her own mind but laughable to anyone in the category of "sane," even went so far as to say that she was "glad she didn't pay for the show."

Which brings me to a point that probably should have been made some time ago (and, quite honestly, has been made by people other than me): if you are offended by anything intended to make you laugh, you are taking yourself way too seriously and you're conducting yourself in a dishonest and cowardly manner. You're a fraud and only pretending to be offended so you can fit into all the politically correct standards that have been prescribed for you by society. The plain and simple truth is that humor can never be offensive, based on the very nature of its intention: to make you laugh.

And that's precisely what Vos was doing during his show. He was trying to make you laugh by breaking down the foreboding walls that racial stereotypes have built around us as a culture. By pointing out the idiosyncracies of the African American, Asian or Middle Eastern race with a humorous approach, Vos (as any good comedian does) is effectively making those stereotypes a non-entity. By laughing and seeing the humor in all of these stereotypes, you are in effect realizing just how silly they are. So, as Vos said many times throughout his set, "Loosen up people. It's a comedy show."

Credit where credit is due, most of the crowd enjoyed the show immensely. Taking several looks around the crowd during the alledged offensive material, I saw African American guys laughing, Asian guys laughing, Jewish girls laughing at all of Vos' barbs. Even my dad, who is right off the boat from England, was howling during Vos' rants against his homeland. So there are obviously people out there that get it.

I will also give credit to those who actually did get up and leave. Although I don't believe for a second that they were really offended, at least they adhered to their misplaced principles and left the venue when they didn't like what they heard. Other people stayed and opted to complain from their seats, which proves my previous point about dishonesty ten-fold. If you don't like the show, why are you still watching it?

One girl in particular, who I'm singling out by the sheer virtue of the fact that she was seated directly behind me, chose to repeat "He's not funny" through Vos' entire 90 minutes on stage as opposed to simply excusing herself, returning to her dorm room and watching one of the sterile network sitcoms polluting the nation's televised airwaves. If you're not enjoying the show, then leave. It's as simple as that. But this girl, and people like her, can't do that because nobody will know that she doesn't like what she's hearing if she says it in the privacy of her room. Which is why the abhorrently PC population acts the way they do in the first place: their little voice was never heard throughout their lives and by loudmouthing at a comedy show, they're getting the attention they so desperately crave.

But Rich Vos is apparently aware of all of this...he just doesn't care. He makes no apologies for any of the material included in his act and holds no concern for anyone who doesn't like what he does. He's there to give a great, funny performance for all the people that "get it." And that's exactly what he did Thursday night. Hopefully, to the dismay of the ficticiously offended, he will return to Stony Brook University in the very near future.



For more information on Rich Vos (and to purchase the DVD that he was barred from selling on campus), visit Rich Vos' official website at: www.richvos.com