Laughter is the best medicine — for pretty much anything

I’m jealous of people who live where there are comedy clubs readily available.

I fully believe if I lived anywhere near a comedy club and the ticket prices were affordable, I’d go often. I’d especially like to go on open-mic nights to be able to see different things and people.

Comedy has long been a part of my life. From watching many big-name comedians at a local college (George Carlin, Howie Mandel, Michel Winslow, Carrot Top, Jay Mohr, and Sam Kinison, to name a few), to seeing smaller shows all over the place, I’ve long loved stand up comedy.

I’ve had the chance to see many different comedy places. From a cool little spot in Montreal, where we met and struck a friendship up with comedian Steve Caouette, to little dives with people hoping to make a few bucks in the world of comedy. Whether 15-minute quickies or an hour and half of pure hilarity, I’ve loved pretty much every comedy show I attended.

With that in mind, it’s pretty safe to say, whenever I get a chance to go, I like to do so.

On Sunday, I added a comedian toward the top of my list.

Ralphie May, well-known through his Comedy Central specials and for his appearance on Last Comic Standing, came to SUNY Delhi. He’s been to Delhi before, but I had never had the chance to see him. He was supposed to have a show a year or so ago, but had to cancel because of health reasons.

Allow me to say it was well worth the wait to see him perform.

First, his opening act, Chad of the Smash Brothers, was hilarious. He got some solid digs in on a few people in the front row, told some extremely funny stories and had the crowd warmed up amazingly for May.

Here’s one thing though — this definitely wasn’t a “family friendly” show. In other words, profanity and things along those lines were open game.

That made it really good.

His topics included pretty much anything, including some politics, racial lines, himself, and of course, some adult topics. He also utilized one of the students Chad had picked on a bit and got some good digs in as well.

It’s also safe to note that I was in stitches most of the night. I love a good laugh. It makes you forget anything else going on in the world. It can help make you forget anything bad going on and it gives you a way to kind of ignore anything else and just have a good time.

This was also the final big comedy show at the college under the watch of Marty Greenfield, SUNY Delhi’s Student Activities Director, who is retiring at the end of the semester. He’s been at the college for more than 25 years and has brought some amazing shows — comedy, music, sports (Globetrotters etc.), wrestling and so many more things.

Ralphie May was an excellent closing big comedy show. It’s safe to say the students and community members who attended the show went home happy, which is one of the main things a student activities director could ask for.

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