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2008 Photos and Videos
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MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY - FINALS!!
Our 2nd
Annual "New Jersey Comedy Festival" winner is: Kevin "Vegas" Lancaster!! |
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CONGRATULATIONS
KEVIN!!!!! AND
THANK YOU TO OUR TALENTED PARTICIPANTS FOR ALL THE
LAUGHS!
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MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY
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On Tuesday, September 16th, at 8pm the New Jersey Comedy Festival came to Montclair
State University with a roar. Despite a lack of signs on the campus and only a few promotional efforts by MSU, the event
was a great kickoff to the Festival's second season. Marc Feinson,
a comedian and talent agent wasted no time in getting his portable microphone system out to walk the campus, student center
and crowded cafeteria telling jokes, kidding with the students and encouraging everyone to come to the comedy show.
As we got closer to the start time, 5 stand-up contestants waited back stage as TJ Del Reno of Comedy Central
(host and comedian for the NJCF) warmed the audience up with his special style of humor. Just before the first contestant
went on, the audience numbered close to a 100 people, making this an excellent turnout for the five performers. The student comedians were Tony Anthony Jr. of Bergen Community College, Joed
Lopez of Montclair State University, Robert Ryan of Bergen Community College, Patrick Jeffrey
Smith of Caldwell College and Adam Glyn of Kean University. The judges selected two students to
go on to the finals on December 6th, 2008 at Monmouth University. The finalists were Joed Lopez and Adam Glyn. The New Jersey Comedy Festival is produced by Dennis Hedlund and David Stein, in partnership with
Monmouth University.
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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Winners are: Patrick Howitt, Brandon Gulya, Aaron Kheifets and
Russell Cox |
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Friday night was buzzing at the Rutgers Student Center in anticipation of the
start of the New Jersey Comedy Festival. There were 14 students sign-up to do 5 minutes of stand up comedy, each one had send
several friends and relatives to fill the seats in the Student Center, which reached over 300 people. Judging
that night was Steven Gorelick the Executive Director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Development Commission
and a Rutgers graduate, Marc Feinson was the second judge a professional comedian, theatrical agent and a senior member of
the Friars Club, the third judge was Dennis Hedlund the founder of the Festival and a former comedian. TJ Del
Reno was the awesome master of ceremonies’ and laugh master who kept the humor flowing thru out the evening, keeping
each performer relaxed before their time in the spotlight. This was a very close race, each performer was judged on their
material, originality, stage presence and audience reaction it seem like that each stand-up was better than the last. After some head scratching and lengthy discussions, the judges decided on four finalists. They were
Patrick Howitt, Brandon Gulya, Russell Cox and Aaron
Kheifets. The
three winners will go on to compete at the NJCF finals at Monmouth University on December 6 along with other students from
over 35 colleges in New Jersey. |
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ROWAN UNIVERSITY
Winners are: Ryan Logan, Jasen Hurka and Steve Grande
Winner
from Gloucester CC: Katie Decker |
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Click to view more Rowan photos
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The New Jersey Comedy
Festival returned to Rowan University last night, it was a nostalgic occasion as it was here on September 25, 2007 that the
Festival launched its first event. This year there were 15 student performers from Rowan plus Camden Community College, Rutgers
Camden Campus and Gloucester Community College. The event started around 9:30 hosted by TJ Del Reno who warmed the crowd up
with comedy antics and funny stories about being from New Jersey. The celebrity judges were Frank Albanese, an actor who was appeared
in over a 100 films from Godfather 1 to most recently a reoccurring role on the Sopranos as Uncle Pat, the second judge was
David Stein a comedy writer and founder of several comedy web-sites and a principle of laugh.com, the third Judge was Dennis
Hedlund the founder of NJCF and a comedian. The judges were put to the test with many stand-ups scoring very close to each other in points;
the 3 winners from Rowan were Ryan Logan, Jasen Hurka, Steve Grande and the winner from the other colleges
was Katie Decker of Gloucester CC. The crowd of 250 plus students applauded loudly, agreeing with the decisions
of the judges, all 4 will go to the finals at Monmouth University on December 6. |
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THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY
Winners
are: Kevin "Vegas" Lancaster, Jason Cantor and Shelley Snyder
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It was standing-room
only at the Rathskeller Monday night as Jason Cantor, junior business major, Shelley Snyder, sophomore interactive multimedia
major and Kevin "Vegas" Lancaster, senior philosophy major, were dubbed the winners of the College section of the
New Jersey Comedy Festival.
The show featured seven very talented comedians, each performing five-minute routines.
Other performers included junior psychology major Daniel Neyman, freshman philosophy major Gabriel Concepcion, sophomore math
major Garrett Hoffman and sophomore English major Ryan Yorke.
Adam Mamawala, senior communication studies major
and former winner of the New Jersey Comedy Festival, made an appearance. He warmed up the crowd with the same comedic skill
that won him the gold last year, and he also entertained the audience at the end of the festival as the judges were deciding
the victors.
Snyder started her routine asking the audience to be forgiving as this was her first time onstage.
She proceeded to give a hilarious performance with creative jokes focusing on issues such as freshman housing and the nation's
struggling economy.
Cantor once again impressed the College audience with his funny anecdotes and excellent delivery.
His jokes ranged from humorous experiences in Eickhoff Dining Hall to his hilarious observations and jokes about Republican
presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.
"I'm really excited about the Festival in Monmouth," Cantor
said. "I'll try to get a lot of people to come out, and it would be nice to win $1,000. I had a great time tonight.
It's only as good as the people who come out and support you," Cantor said.
Lancaster put on one of the
most memorable performances of the evening with original jokes about dollar coins and Benjamin Franklin. "I draw inspiration
from the absurdities of everyday life, from our culture and just from being silly," Lancaster said.
"Well,
we organized this event because we love comedy and we wanted to come around and check out some N.J. colleges," Hedlund
said. "Comedy is very hot right now and some of these kids may never perform again, but they will always remember this
experience. When they see a comedian on TV they will look at it differently because of what they've done here tonight."
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CENTENARY COLLEGE
Winner: Dayton House |
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RICHARD STOCKTON
COLLEGE
Winners are: Noah Houlihan, Jim Codianni, Will Millar
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FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY - MADISON
Winners
are: Gordon Baker-Bone, Mike Caruso and Aaron Gage
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DREW UNIVERSITY
Winners are: John McHale and
Madeline Farbstein
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MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY
Winner from
Monmouth: Kyle A Seiverd
Winner from Brookdale:
Max Baker
Winner from William Patterson: Justin Scott C. Hayter |
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