The Syracuse University Hillel and University Union recently announced that comedian Michael Ian Black will be speaking at Goldstein Auditorium on Oct. 30.

Black, a Jewish comedian, is Hillel’s fall speaker and will give a lecture titled ‘The Awesome Life of Michael Ian Black,’ said Ian Solomon, Hillel’s event chair and sophomore television, radio and film major.

‘It’s very vague, it’s very ridiculous, which is what (Black) is,’ Solomon said of the title.

Tickets go on sale Monday and are $3 for students and $5 for the public, said Rachel Grant, co-director of UU Speakers and a senior broadcast journalism and communication and rhetorical studies major.

‘Bring some tissues with you because you might laugh so hard that you’re going to cry,’ Grant said.

Black was featured in the popular VH1 series ‘I Love The ’70s,’ ‘I Love The ’80s’ and ‘I Love The ’90s.’ He also starred in NBC’s ‘Ed’ and commercials for Sierra Mist.

‘It’s my type of comedy – it’s random, clever, funny,’ Solomon said, who is on ‘After Hours,’ a CitrusTV comedy show. ‘It’s different. It’s offbeat.’

While Hillel is funding the event, it contacted UU to help with some of the paperwork, deal with agents, secure the venue and promote the event, Solomon said.

Hillel’s Assistant Director Marcy Miller and the Hillel Board sought Black out and negotiated much of the contract over the summer, he said.

Black’s agent, Theo Mall, is an SU alumnus, and was eager to work with the two organizations, said Adam Scharfberg, co-director of UU Speakers and a junior marketing major.

‘We’re looking to draw a wide array of students, not just Jewish students,’ said Carly Mangel, president of Hillel and a senior international relations major. ‘Almost anyone on campus could find a personal relation, and find a reason to come.’

Most students’ midterms will be over, and they can sit back, relax and laugh, Scharfberg said.

‘He just cracks me up,’ said Shannon Black, a junior television, radio and film major. ‘Sometimes things he says aren’t that funny, but it’s him, so you laugh.’

Black took audience members on stage and was very interactive with the crowd during a standup show in Philadelphia this summer, Scharfberg said.

‘He’s just a really off-the-cuff, really random, funny guy,’ he said.

Matt Giordano, a sophomore accounting major, said he hopes Black is in the same mood as when he filmed the VH1 series.

‘He’s so nonchalant, but funny,’ Giordano said.

The event will be followed by a reception at Hillel, Solomon said. All are welcome to go and meet with Black.

Published on October 11, 2006 at 12:00 pm