Although he has released three albums and starred in his own “Comedy Central Presents” special, comedian Todd Barry admitted he was nervous about his performance in the Reitz Union Rion Ballroom.
That’s because Friday’s performance was a homecoming for Barry, a UF alumnus, who was making his first trip back to campus in 20 years.
In just more than an hour on stage, Barry touched on Gainesville-centric jokes about Orange and Brew, Leonardo’s and the Chipotle on University Avenue, which he referred to as the “O’Connell Center of Chipotles.”
Barry used plenty of his all-purpose material but added to his student audience’s enjoyment with new bits related to Gainesville.
“Some of it I thought about … and some of it just came to me when I was up there,” he said afterward.
He mentioned watching a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in that very ballroom in 1986, living at 302 Beaty Towers West and graduating as an English major with a 2.11 GPA.
Barry made his show a personal experience, holding conversations with a student who was texting in the front row, another who left in the middle of his routine and seemingly anyone else who wanted to get involved.
“The crowd was great. They were super polite,” Barry said. “And smart — really smart.”
Reitz Union Board Entertainment and GatorNights produced the show through a joint effort. RUB Lectures and Comedians Director Andrew Fleming said the board had been trying to bring Barry to UF for a while. RUB was finally able to muster the $5,000 needed to secure “one of the bigger names we’ve brought,” Fleming said.
The first half hour of the event featured a trio of student comedians: Rudy Mendoza, Brian Amos and emcee Tim Keck.
