Ian Benson
Editor-in-Chief
On Monday, comedian Paul Varghese will perform in the UG at 10 p.m. Varghese, who has been performing stand-up for 13 years, was a semi-finalist on the Last Comic Standing 2. In addition to his appearance on the reality show, Varghese has opened for Russell Peters and Dave Chappelle on comedy tours and was featured on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham and Showtime’s Russell Peters Presents. He has also taped his own Comedy Central special and released the comedy album Paul and Oates.
The son of Indian immigrants, Varghese grew up outside Dallas and went to school at the University of North Texas. Varghese uses both his upbringing and heritage as fodder for his jokes. In one of his bits, Varghese jokes about how as an Indian man, he is intimidating on a plane. “The sky is my hood,” Varghese commented. “You don’t know if I’m listening to Matchbox 20 or instructions.” Varghese has described himself as obsessive when it comes to the details and the rhythm of his jokes, having spent years refining his craft in bars and clubs in the Dallas area.
Varghese has mostly stayed around Dallas, being voted as the city’s funniest comedian in 2009, but he has also done college tours. He has described his own act as “observations about being Indian, providing outsider-looking-in and insider-looking-out commentary, while also exploring an array of topics and issues outside that realm.”
The show is free and open to all students. In addition to Varghese, WAC has plans for two more comedians, Myq Kaplan and Erin Jackson, to come to school this semester. Kaplan is scheduled to come Feb. 17 and Jackson is set to play the UG on March 3. For more information about upcoming comedy events, contact WAC comedy director Michael Hatchett ’16.