By Greg Meyers
Contributing Writer
St. Joseph’s Hall was in stitches Wednesday night after eight brave young comedians took to the stage, many of them for the first time, for the Crate of Apes Battle of the Comics competition. Each comedian had up to five minutes to perform their routine, and the victor was crowned after the judges and audience voted for who they thought was the funniest comedian.
Gregory Macri, the winner of Wednesday night’s competition, not only won, but made his stand up debut the same night.
“Initially I was a little nervous because I didn’t know what reaction to expect from the audience,” Macri said. “But I was prepared for anything.”
A sophomore at the College majoring in computer science, Macri was able to overcome his nerves and deliver a hilarious routine in his five-minute time slot.
“When I was up on stage and able to get the first laugh from the audience, I felt more comfortable and it was a lot easier to keep going,” Macri said.
Macri was surprised when he won the competition.
“I wasn’t expecting to win, I just wanted the experience of performing, but I’m grateful to all those who supported me and for the prize I received,” he said.
Macri won $300 for a stand-up comedy class at the Comedy Works in Albany.
The competition was judged by Tessa Dickinson, Meghan Kiely, Connor Howard and Ellen Praught. Dickinson and Kiely are from the Student Events Board, while Howard and Praught ae members of Crate of Apes.
Audience members voted by placing a ticket in a jar placed in front of each comedian. The judges used a rubric to grade the performers and added their scores to each performer’s total votes.
Macri took home first, while graduate student Michael Eisenstein took home second and senior John Lantz came in third.
Michael Eisenstein was very pleased with his results and was impressed with Macri’s routine.
“I felt pretty good,” said Eisenstein. “I love doing it and the guy who got first place he was just… he was incredible. It felt good competing against some of the people out here.”
A graduate student in the higher education program, Eisenstein said that this was not his first stand up performance.
“I’ve done it before, I just started a year ago,” said Eisenstein. “I haven’t had a lot of time to do it, but I’ve done it before a few times.
Other comics who performed included Katie Kilmacek, Conor Donovan, Patrick Driscoll, Dylan Hartford and Sarita Farnelli.
“I thought it was great,” said Alexandra Dindy, a sophomore at the College.
“Got a lot of good participation, a lot of talent at Saint Rose,” sophomore Travis Townsend said. He was surprised by how funny the comedians were. “For amateurs, they’re not so amateur!”
“There were a lot of good comics that I didn’t expect,” said junior Paige Fronzeck said.
This is just the beginning for Macri. “With the response that I received from the audience last night, I will definitely perform stand up again,” he said.
