The wRECk Center stayed open a few extra hours Friday night to house SAC’s Mini GameFest. Students were allowed to sign up to participate in various tournaments to win prizes like gift cards from Pizza Hut. The games featured included “Star Wars: Battlefront II” for the Xbox console, along with “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” for the Wii. 

Video games weren’t the only selection for the evening. Poker and Connect Four tournaments were also spread out amongst the tables at the center. 

Although most of these games seemed outdated, and more current games would have been welcomed, the participants didn’t seem to care otherwise, as it takes practice to develop skills in a game like “Battlefront II,” thus making a better sense of competition. 

As the tournaments came to a close, the group of players migrated over to the CAC Theater to see the entertainment for the night, a comedy duo (Matt Keck and Matt McInnis) who call their show “Straight Outta Comicon,” featuring stand-up comedy, skits, and even a rap parody of the song from which their show derives its title “Straight Outta Compton.” 

Since they were playing to a college group Keck and McInnis were allowed to use vulgar terms and material for their comedy styling, including making the whole audience shout out a certain four-letter word. The end results were mixed at best. The whole show mostly derived references from movies and video games that are considered to be cult classics. 

I didn’t find material like taking phrases from the “NBA Jam” video games and using them in a sexual situation or a complete song about the character of Rogue from “X-Men” performing a certain sexual act that funny. Where the duo did excel was in the field of genuine humor, like saying that a 15,000 names book that costs $15 is the same thing as a free phone book. 

Other skits for the night included an interesting twist on the classic “Who’s On First” routine, adapted to include fictional doctor characters like Dr. Who, Dr. No, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, and the list goes on and on. A parody of the “I Am Your Father” scene from “The Empire Strikes Back,” was another lackluster stint, in which the audience participants didn’t help out much.  A number of audience members left throughout the performance. 

Something that I couldn’t put my finger on until I left was that Keck looked and sounded familiar. I later realized that he was from a viral YouTube video titled “I’m a Snake,” which has over 11 million views and was featured on the Comedy Central show “Tosh.0.” That probably explained his thoughts on how YouTube commenters should use Pokémon names, instead of curse words for their comments. 

Although well meaning, the comedy style from “Straight Outta Comicon” was a very hit-and-miss performance with their extensive references to popular culture and cursing. If you really want to see how humor like this should be handled, check out the works done on the website “Red Letter Media,” particularly the series “Half in the Bag” and the “Mr. Plinkett Reviews.” Despite this, I’m sure that the Mini GameFest was much appreciated by participating students, allowing a chance to show off their skills outside of the house.