By: Arielle Dollinger and Melissa Hebbe

It is not often that one comes across an individual whose presence immediately adds a cheerful aura to a room.

But when comedian Christian Finnegan took the stage in the Student Activites Center auditorium, the down-to-earth comedian, in the Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt and jeans, changed the room’s chemistry and took the audience captive.

The gloomy night of Sept. 3 (the night of Hurricane Earl’s supposed arrival) brought to Stony Brook a spirit so paradoxically cheerful that the impending storm was forgotten.  The only reminder of the stormy weather was Finnegan’s advice to “take a moment of respectful silence” when one sees a crumpled umbrella on the sidewalk.

Most well-known for his appearances on VH1‘s Best Week Ever and The Chappelle Show, Finnegan’s humor had the entire audience laughing for the full hour of his performance.  He began by poking fun at such matters as the size of Stony Brook’s campus, pop culture’s obsession with vampires, and American culture in general.

The risqué commentary on the “typical” college experience went over extremely well with the crowd.

“He related to a lot of college life and it made it more enjoyable,” said sophomore Corey Hester.

Some of Finnegan’s jokes singled out individuals in the audience, making his performance interactive and even more hysterical.  One of these students, Kathryn Stephens, a senior at Stony Brook, was thrilled to be singled out.

“I thought the show was really great,” said Stephens.  “I was glad to see something like this happening at Stony Brook because we don’t normally have things like that.  I’ve seen Christian on VH1 before, and so when me and my friend Allison heard about it, we were really excited to come to see it.”

The Undergraduate Student Government’s idea to bring Finnegan to campus was a huge success.  Not one student seemed to be disappointed with the show.

The event’s success was most likely due in large part to Finnegan’s overall attitude when it comes to performing.

“You do it for the first time and you find out really quickly whether it’s for you or not,”  Finnegan said.  “When it goes really well, you obviously want to get back up and do it again. And when it goes really badly, you kind of want to get up again and sort of get the bad taste out of your mouth. And, if that’s the way you feel, then that probably means that you should do it.”