Hofstra’s Homecoming weekend for their men’s basketball team was earlier this month, with many student events over the weekend of February 7-9. One event in particular was a comedy set that was headlined by current SNL star Marcello Hernandez. Hofstra students and faculty had the opportunity to see Hernandez for free and due to his recent gain in popularity due to a particular SNL sketch, Hofstra’s Mack Arena was filled with people that Friday night.
Opener: Matt Richards
Starting off the night, Hernandez introduced the crowd to comedian Matt Richards. Richards seemed to really be a hit, most of his set using current events as the basis for his comedy. Richards had taken on everything from previous schools he had visited to politics. His use of subtle crowd work kept the audience engaged I also personally admired his ability to work so well with the crowd. If people reacted unexpectedly to a joke, he would call them out on it and turn it into a bit that got the crowd laughing. For instance, he played off of the audience’s unexpected laughter when he mentioned violence, shifting the conversation to question the audience’s sanity and joke about their reactions, causing the jokes he actually had planned to go over even better with the audience seemingly.
Marcello at the Mic
Thanks to Richards’ performance, energy was already very high in the room by the time Marcello Hernandez took the stage, and Hernandez only kept that energy up and built off of it throughout his set. Hernandez opened his set with jokes based on some research he did on Hofstra, including jabs at the mascots and the acceptance rate. He then transitioned into a mix of different commentary, covering the topics of relationships and dating, family, traveling and more. His comedic timing was very impressive and had the audience in stitches for most of the set. His use of both verbal and physical storytelling for his jokes blended in a way that made the audience tune in and crack up from beginning to end. Some of my personal favorite jokes of his were his take on women with tall boyfriends and “Full House.” Hernandez even ended his set by recording a video of himself, Richards and the crowd quoting his very famous SNL character, Domingo, which was very loud and enthusiastic on the crowd’s part. His stand-up set was a great example of how Hernandez executes his comedy and just how successful it is with his target audience.
Audience Reactions
People on campus had great things to say about the set overall, saying the genuinely enjoyed both Richards and Hernandez’s comedy. One of the main criticisms surrounding Hernandez seemed to be that people felt his comedy was repetitive of sets he’s done previously. I personally didn’t feel like that dampened the set that much as when he had told a joke I’d seen him mention before on TV or the internet, he seemed to add on little extra details that still made the jokes funny. It’s also important to note that comedians usually base their comedy off of personal experience, as well as the relatability of those topics to their audience. If a comedian has a funny story to tell, they’re going to tell it because they know people are going to laugh, which is their ultimate goal. Also due to Hernandez’s growing popularity, it’s highly unlikely he will have brand new material every single time he takes the stage. I feel like Hernandez was hilarious and did a really good job at keeping his audience entertained.
Overall, both Richards and Hernandez are both comedians I would recommend going to see if given the chance.