Sonoma State University’s Student Center Ballroom was rolling with laughter Thursday night when Jokes for Votes hosted popular comedians Demetri Martin, Baron Vaughn, Taylor Tomlinson and James Adomian.
Some can be seen on well known programs such as “The Daily Show,” “Bojack Horseman,” “Grace and Frankie” and other shows on Comedy Central.
Their various style of comedy and provocative jokes had the crowd consumed with laughter the entire night. The event encouraged students to come to a great comedy show as well as register to vote.
Just outside of the event, there were several volunteers with clipboards that were registering students to vote.
Opener Taylor Tomlinson wooed the crowd with jokes that ranged from innocently quirky to brutally raunchy. One of her most memorable puns was, “If there’s no God, then I told the wind a lot of secrets.”
Tomlinson even heckled the crowd a bit, teasing a few people sitting in the front row, which is known for being the danger zone at most comedy shows if you don’t want to be the pun of the comedian’s next joke.
Following Tomlinson, James Adomian engaged the crowd with his blunt humor. He relentlessly joked about typically taboo subjects like homosexuality and drug use. Ultimately it’s safe to say his jokes were definitely not safe for work, but nonetheless hilarious.
Baron Vaughn also did a laugh provoking set where he touched on topics like English accents, police brutality and unordinary names. Currently he plays Nwabudike “Bud” Bergstein on popular Netflix comedy “Grace and Frankie.” He is also known for his roles in movies like “Cloverfield” and “The Kitchen.”
“I really like when Sonoma State has comedy events like these, and it’s cool how it also encourages students to vote considering how important the election is this year,” said sophomore Olivia Hurst.
Crowd favorite Demetri Martin closed out the show with his surreal and alternative comedy and even incorporated music by playing a guitar and harmonica simultaneously.
Martin is well known for contributing to shows like “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Daily Show” as well as starring on his very own program “Demetri Martin. Person.” Martin had the crowd on their backs when he made a joke about Sonoma State’s Mascot.
“So I went to your guy’s bookstore and saw that your mascot is a Seawolf… sounds very vicious and imaginary,” said Martin in his signature sarcastic monotone that he carried throughout the set.
“I enjoyed Demetri Martin’s set the most,” said freshman Brian Daniel. “He was heckling the crowd and the way he told jokes made it hard to tell if he was joking or being serious.”
Ultimately the voter participation from the millennial generation will prove to be instrumental in the elections coming up Nov. 8. Events such as Jokes for Votes can only help in that participation and influencing college students to vote.