By 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, the crowd to see Saturday Night Live’s Jay Pharoah completely filled McKinnon Hall at Elon University, forcing many students to stand. Born in Virginia, Pharoah now lives in New York City where he is on NBC’s "Saturday Night Live."
“The man of a thousand voices” came out with high energy, dancing and rapping for his eager audience and kicking things off with some political jokes.
“Mitt Romney looks like a pervert,” Pharoah said.Pharoah has the ability to make his audience laugh at things they may not normally find humorous. He even touched on the "Dark Knight Rises" and Sandy Hook school shootings. But when it came down to the core of the performance, the comedian made his position on the matter very clear.
“Discrimination leads to the deterioration of our nation,” he said.
Pharoah said there are always people who tell him not to say or joke about certain things.
“If they don’t like it, they shouldn’t come to the show,” he said about those who disapprove of his humor.
Pharoah’s attitude toward comedy is one many comedians are afraid to have. This non-apologetic attitude made his stand-up that much more popular, especially to a college-age audience.
Best known for his impersonations and impressions, Pharoah did voices ranging from President Obama to Nicholas Cage to Kat Williams. On "SNL," he is most famous for his impressions of Jay-Z, Denzel Washington and Kanye West, as well as his own characters on the show like school principal Daniel Frye.
Relating to his current crowd, Pharoah joked about his own schooling and bullies.
“I ain’t got no f---ing friends, so I make people up,” he said of his school experience.
Pharoah shared his opinions on technology and social media with the Elon students. Most specifically, he expressed his dislike for Twitter, especially the people on it who, he said, do not deserve to make their opinions public.
“Technology gets people in trouble,” Pharoah said.
The crowd showed its admiration for Pharoah by participating in the show at every opportunity. Juniors Tracy Raetz and Emily Bishop agreed one of their favorite parts was when the entire audience rapped the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme song together.
“It made me nostalgic,” Raetz said.
Pharoah started off the well-known theme song and proceeded to point the microphone to the students.
Pharoah also tried to show his love back to his fans. Though he was only able to spend a short amount of time with them, he was available for pictures after the show and made a few jokes to students offstage. His appreciation for the large turnout was evident.
Later this year, Pharoah will appear in the comedy “Get a Job.” He also told students he'll be working with Will Smith in the near future. He joined the “Saturday Night Live” cast in 2010 and continues to be a valuable member of the sketch comedy team.