Comedian Alex Stone entertains crowd at April Fool’s Day show

by Ben Middendorf

Stand-up comedian Alex Stone regaled an audience of students and faculty members on Friday, April 1 for a special April Fool’s Day event in Weller Auditorium.

Stone’s start in comedy came after high school when he entered a “Funniest Person in Cincinnati” contest for a small comedy club. Since then, he’s been performing for over a decade at both colleges and clubs. In 2014, he was selected as a contestant on NBC’s Last Comic Standing show.

Stone has been a fan of the comedy genre for many years.

“I would stay up late on school nights… and Comedy Central used to run their half hour specials,” he said. “I loved it, and I just kind of always wanted to do it.”

Much of Stone’s act comes from his own life experiences, such as moving on his own to New York City or his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend.

“I try to write every day,” he said. “[Any] difficulty comes from taking it from the page to the stage. It’s just… working through the process of getting it to where it’s ready to be recorded or shared.”

Stone also welcomes audience participation and often gives the host college, town and his audience a good-natured ribbing.

“Seward has to be one of the worst names for a town,” Stone joked on Friday. “It either has to do with the sewers, or it’s a farmer calling his pigs.”

Stone’s sets haven’t always been as successful.

“I can remember one my mom booked… at the doctor’s office where she worked,” Stone said. “It was the pain of having a bad set coupled with the pain of knowing my mom was watching me have a bad set.”

His performance at Concordia, however, was well-received by the audience.

“I thought it was hilarious,” freshman Jonathan Rippe said. “he was way quick with comebacks, and quite honestly he made a joke pretty much out of everything,… so I thought it was pretty great.”

For other students, the event, hosted by the Student Activities Council, provided a break from typical academic schedules.

“I love it when Concordia… does stuff like that,” sophomore Tyler Raabe said. “I think we don’t do it as much as some colleges, but when it does happen, it’s really fun and special, like a holiday almost.”

Stone’s comedy album “Hello.” can be found on iTunes and Spotify.