After winning four Emmys, comedian Greg Fitzsimmons still writes his stand-up bits like English essays he wrote when he attended Boston University.
“The structure of an essay is very similar to a stand-up bit,” he said. “You present an original thesis, give examples, you use transitions and your summary paragraph at the end is like the end of the bit.”
Fitzsimmons’s “essay” Friday night explored the controversies of family values, religion and abortion — and the 250 students who saw him and BU’s funniest student Steve Macone at the George Sherman Union’s BU Central laughed the whole night.
“For me, it was a really big deal to come back here and tell jokes where I literally started doing comedy,” Fitzsimmons said after the performance, his first return to BU to perform for students. “It was funny to think back on how I spent my four years at BU when I didn’t think I was a standout, necessarily.”
But Fitzsimmons said he never actually planned to attend BU — his father applied for him behind his back.
“My father said, ‘Congratulations, you got into BU,’ but I never applied,” he said. “The first time I saw BU was the day he dropped me off.”
In honor of the edgy comedian’s career, which includes appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” VH1’s “Best Week Ever” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” the College of General Studies recently presented Fitzsimmons with its Distinguished Alumni Award, making him the youngest recipient in the college’s history.
“It was a total shock to get something like that,” he said. “Part of me feels like, ‘Wow, how old am I to get lifetime achievement awards?'”
A CGS and College of Arts and Sciences 1989 graduate, Fitzsimmons began performing comedy at BU when he was part of comedy troupe Uncontrolled Substance, and his first performance was also in the GSU.
“College kids are used to sitting still, paying attention, listening to someone at the front of the room for long periods of time, and I kind of appreciate that unquestioned listening when I’m on stage,” he said. “College shows are always a place where you can go a little bit further, idea-wise, if not language-wise.”
Noting a sorority rush event in an adjacent room, Fitzsimmons improvised around the event, to which students found entertaining.
“His impromptu genius made the performance hilarious,” said CAS freshman Sergey Fedorovsky. “From controversial topics to his personal life and finally, to his interaction with the audience — he nailed it all.”
During the show, Fitzsimmons did a religious bit about when he took his son to church on Easter. His son referred to Jesus as “scary with owies on his hands, no shirt and he looks angry.” To which Fitzsimmons replied, “Oh my God, you’re right — let’s get out of here.”
Opening for Fitzsimmons, Macone, a College of Communication senior, made references to what he said are dilemmas that plague people, including cabbages versus Slim Jims, the pre-gaming phenomenon and the Disney Vault and its re-releases.
“Steve Macone was great,” said COM freshman Peter Brunet. “It was awesome to watch comedians who have been in the same shoes as you — it makes it that much funnier.”
Undergraduate Programming Assistant Allie Flauter said she was not surprised by the large student turnout at the BU Central sponsored event.
“With the exception of the funniest student competition last semester, I think this was the comedy show that’s had the biggest audience,” the COM junior said. “I was expecting to have a big draw because he’s one of the bigger comedy names we’ve had this year. Also, having a student opener helps because I think people like to see their peers when they’re successful, and Steve always really kills.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
