Three boys prance down the steps in their mom’s bathing suits, one in a neon top wrapped around his body, another wearing a one piece with a frilly skirt and one more clad in an old fashion one piece to show. They await their dad, who walks in the front door defeated from his day at work. As the mother watches proudly, the father bursts into confusion and anger. The son adorned in the pink tutu was comedian Brian Moote.
Moote, a cast member of MTV’s show “Money from Strangers,” performed last Friday in the basement of the Campus Center at 8 p.m. He put on a free show with a variety of raunchy, yet hilarious jokes.
Moote’s jokes ranged from poking fun at state’s slogans to how ridiculous everyone looks on picture day to drunk camping, with a designated survivor, which is where someone on the trip needs to live on to share the adventure.
There was not once an awkward silence during the performance. He interacted extremely well with the crowd and found ways to make fun of people in the audience without offending them. Moote made jokes referring to getting drunk toward a fellow classmate in a green hat, making the stand up much more comical.
“I thought he was good and he had a variety of things to talk about,” said Alicia Contrascier, sophomore public relations major. “He really engaged well with the audience.”
For Moote’s stand up, his inspirations come from stories of his childhood and life experiences.
A handful of Moote’s jokes sent a ripple of laughter throughout the audience, such as when he shared his stories of teaching kindergarten students in Los Angeles. He went on to explain how horrible it was to show up hungover, which correlated to the kids watching movies in class. He claimed all movie days during our elementary school years were the result of hungover teachers.
Another funny line Moote shared about his teaching experience was when he started to write his name on the board. As soon as he put a “B” on the whiteboard, a kid yelled out that his name was “Mr. Butt Nugget.” Moote goes on saying how hard it was to refrain from laughing because it would show weakness to the kids. Though, he did commend the boy on his joke, saying that it was hard to scold a child when you’re laughing so hard.
Another joke that had a great effect on the audience was when his hippie mother took him and his brothers to gymnastics when he was seven.
Moote started stand up while he was teaching. “It was a hobby at first,” he said. “After I graduated with my masters in social work I couldn’t find a real job.”
Moote then moved out to Los Angeles and he was cast in “Money for Strangers,” where he will be appearing in half of the episodes of the second season beginning in March.
Moote found out Wednesday, when his plane landed in Indianapolis, that he would be performing at Otterbein and booked a ticket to Ohio. The originally scheduled comedian, Roy Wood Jr., had to cancel due to filming for a TV pilot on Fox Network television.
The Campus Activities Board, which is replacing the name of the Campus Programming Board, organized the event. According to Molly Ward, assistant director of the Center for Student Involvement, the CAB has planned for two other comedians to come to campus throughout the semester. Moote’s appearance at Otterbein was the first installation of what is called Friday Night Laughs.
