Over 3000 people waited in a line that stretched from the Retriever Activities Center (RAC) all the way down academic row on Friday night. Students, faculty, parents, friends and alumni waited anxiously to grab the best seats in the house.
The homecoming comedy show featuring The Daily Show host Trevor Noah was completely sold out. The event was sponsored by The Division of Student Affairs and organized by the student events board (seb).
Sophomore and business technology and administration major Rachael Sanchez is a member of seb.
“I am excited by the number of people who came out tonight. We’re excited to see alumni tonight as well,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez noted that seb relied on teamwork while organizing this event, which was the most well-attended out of all the homecoming events. Members of seb had different roles throughout the night to ensure the show ran smoothly. Sanchez helped control the line before the show.
People bought tickets for different reasons. Some were big fans of Trevor Noah. Some were excited to see the man who took over for Jon Stewart for the Daily Show. Many people came to celebrate the UMBC Homecoming festivities.
Freshman and linguistics major, James Lefkowitz said he purchased his ticket last minute, but he did not want to miss out on Trevor Noah speaking in different languages. Lefkowitz said, “Trevor Noah provides a powerful voice and perspective on South African humor.”
As soon as Noah walked onto the stage, the audience broke out into cheers. They gave him standing applause before he had spoken a single world. Trevor was very humbled by the turnout and enthusiasm from the UMBC community. After the show, he tweeted: “Tonight @UMBC was mind blowingly amazing. Wow what a great night. Thank you Retrievers!!!”
Yemeni Narayan is a senior HAPP major. “Trevor rose to the top,” Narayan said. “He came to the Daily Show during an interesting time in this country. Its a lot to handle since he’s an immigrant and it’s very admirable of him.”
Noah covered several topics including American politics and the Trump presidency. He used different impressions throughout the night including those of President Trump, former president Barack Obama, a native South African impression and the stereotypical Californian impression. Trevor made fun of the so called “American English” that Americans tend to use. He shared humorous stories of his experiences dealing with language barriers during his move to the United States from South Africa.
Noah had the entire crowd on the edge of their seats waiting for him to make the next punchline of his jokes. After a long night of impressions, jokes and empowering messages to the crowd, Noah finished his show and was left with a farewell standing ovation from the UMBC community.
