A&E

CAB Comedian Adam Mamawala delivers honest yet highbrow performance

By Emma Fighera ’20

Tags a+e

On Saturday, Sept. 3, CAB hosted its first comedy show of the year, which featured guest Adam Mamawala and Hamilton’s own Caroline Kreidberg ’17. The Events Barn was nearly full when the show began and Kreidberg took the stage in a pair of striking pink pants. 

She began the set by describing her tendency to unwittingly get locked in rooms, most notably the showers in Babbitt Residence Hall. After describing campus safety heroic appearance and subsequent razing of the Babbitt shower door, Kreidberg continued her set smoothly, maintaining the high energy introduced by her first joke. She spoke highly of her summer spent in New York City, where she was exposed to an unexpected, new breed of catcaller: a woman. Of this discovery, she said, “As a woman, I was empowered to see another woman breaking into a male-dominated field.” 

Kriedberg did a great job, shifting between highly varied topics effortlessly. But the true mark of a job well done is not only a word of praise. One has only truly made it at Hamilton College if David Wippman, our president, has weighed in. Wippman weighed in, as documented by the caption of Kreiberg’s Facebook profile picture. “It was a bit edgy for me, but you were very good,” Wippman said to Kreidberg after the show. 

After Kreidberg’s performance, Adam Mamawala took the stage. Having headlined at over 200 colleges across the country, Mamawala’s extensive experience was immediately obvious. From the beginning, his tone was conversational, as if his entire act was just a funny exchange between friends. The rapport Mamawala was able to create with the audience was immediate and genuine. 

If David Wippman considered Kreidberg’s routine edgy, he likely found Mamawala’s set outright vulgar. Mamawala was shameless, recounting the embarrassing straits he endured in the pursuit of advancing his sexual prowess. He was painfully honest, sparing not even a shred of dignity for the sake of a joke. The level of transparency is admirable, though there were moments where he did not need to go so far. 

In his set, Mamawala skillfully jumped from discussing his racial ambiguity to the bathroom habits of his fiancée. However, it was Mamawala’s interaction with members of the audience that was more impressive than his prepared material. Toward the middle of the show, a group of late students appeared in the entrance of the venue, hesitant to enter the room. Mamawala stopped his set, invited them in, and poked fun at the newly arrived motley crew. He continued to tease them, and other late comers, for the duration of the routine, tactfully incorporating improvisational elements into his heavily rehearsed act. 

As a first-year, I was not sure what to expect of comedy at Hamilton. But Kreidberg and Mamawala have showed me it is entirely worthwhile.

All A&E