Comedians Birbiglia and Rhea bring the laughs with their different humor styles

While this past Saturday might have been a dark, rain-filled day, the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts was aglow with knee-slapping laughter and the smiles of audience members at the UConn Family Weekend Comedy Show.

The evening of stand-up comedy featured headlining comedians Caroline Rhea and Mike Birbiglia, offering the Jorgensen audience a taste of two vastly different comedians.

"Each comedian had something unique to offer," said Mike DiRe, a 5th-semester mechanical engineering major. "It was a lot of fun."

All of the comedians featured in the show have appeared on television at some point in time, and many audience members were excited to finally see these comedians in person.

"I like seeing them in person rather than on TV," said David Kaufman, a 5th-semester landscape architecture major.

The variety of comedic styles opened with Comedy Central comedian Geoff Tate who had a dry style, which focused on an array of subjects including the economy, the workplace, married life and even his ultra-preppy appearance.

"I do look like I'm in 'Ocean's 11,' if it starred George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Paddington Bear," said Tate.

His joke about paying America's debt to China back with Wal-Mart gift cards received some of the greatest applause:

"You got Wal-Marts there or only the factories?" Tate said.

While Tate appeared very static in his stage presence, only using physical comedy for a handful of jokes in his set, headliner comedian Mike Birbiglia commanded the stage and audience with his physical comedy and hilarious personal stories, which he assured the audience were absolutely true, as far-fetched as they sounded.

Some stories included 7th-grade love and high school at an all-boys' Catholic school, during which he provided some advice to the students in the audience.

"Running away works. That's my advice to the incoming students," Birbiglia said.

"I watched Mike Birbiglia on TV and I thought he was funny," said Georgia Williamson, a 3rd- semester exploratory student. While funny on TV, Birbiglia has had some time to practice executing a perfect stage presence in his one-man show entitled "Sleepwalk With Me," which opened in New York in 2008 and ran for eight months.

Birbiglia joked about his messy appearance, but his performance proved to be just what the audience needed. His routine was mostly physical, using the stage props and space around him, even playing around with his spotlight, just to test the spotlight operator.

As ridiculous as his stories got, including his sleepwalking disorder, Birbiglia proved himself to be an engaging storyteller, with his stories all relating to his original joke in the end.

The "blonde, beautiful" Caroline Rhea executed a different style of stand-up and appeared to be a bit spacey in her set, which she attributed to taking care of her 11-month-old baby.

"I'm not drunk, I'm breastfeeding," Rhea told the audience. "When I say I'm pumped to be here I mean it."

Her stage persona definitely differed from her most well-known acting role as Aunt Hilda on the TV show "Sabrina the Teenage Witch."

"'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' was my first favorite TV show so I'm excited to see Caroline Rhea," said Nicole Bortolan, a 3rd-semester pre-teaching major.

Rather than engaging the audience in storytelling, Rhea interacted with the audience, asking them questions and coming up with quick and witty comebacks that sometimes delivered, but often misfired with sections of the audience who remained silent.

At the beginning of her act, Rhea interacted with an audience member who was taking cell phone pictures and sitting close to the stage. Rhea asked her to stop, then asked her to come up to the stage for a picture.

In the middle of telling stories about subjects like her college years, driving up to Connecticut in the pouring rain, her snoring boyfriend and being "the kind of celebrity where people say 'I got to go,'" Rhea went off on tangents to ask audience members questions like "who's been married the longest?" and "who's from another country?"

Sometimes the audience didn't respond to her questions fast enough, making Rhea say, "I feel like I'm being punked!" which might have been felt by the audience as well by the end of the night.

However unusual Rhea's in-your-face performance seemed to be, along with calm and collected Tate and the dynamic storyteller Birbiglia, all the accomplished comedians of the night certainly proved to be a great way to spend time with friends and family on Family Weekend.