Star Search comic ‘funny to me’
By Jessica Keaton
Staff Writer
The Star Search winning comedian, Horace H.B. Sanders, had the University of Indianapolis audience in tears for nearly an hour in a half last Tuesday, Sept. 23rd.
Naturally, this down to earth comedian was quite a hit to the full audience that evening. With around 150 audience members, Sanders took the stage and immediately sent the audience into gut-wrenching laughter with his catch phrase of “It’s funny to me.”
Without fail, each joke was directly aimed toward the audience. Sanders called out on members, asked their names and applied them into his act. He was delightfully fresh and quick on his feet.
Nearly a dozen people walked in after he began his skit, however, that did not stop him by any means. He turned their tardiness into a joke, introduced himself to them, and requested they sat in the front. It was hilarious to everyone, even those being picked on.
Christie Nurkowski, a late audience member for the show, agreed and said, “Personally, being picked on by the comedian made it a lot more fun! It was cool interacting with Sanders. When we walked in late, we were just going to go sit in the back, but he made us come and sit in the front row! ”
Before Sanders made his way to UIndy, he made appearances with an extensive group of individuals. Sanders started by becoming the CBS Star Search Comedy Champion, where he obtained the highest score in the show’s history with a perfect 20 from the celebrity judges and a 19 from the audience.
Since then, the Detriot native has been seen performing with Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, LeAnn Rimes, Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and the legendary Bill Cosby.
However, that is just the beginning of his success. Sanders also has been featured on The Comcast Comedy Hour, Comedy Central, BET Comic View and CTN Live. With this much success it’s no surprise that the UIndy audience exploded in laughter with each punch line Sanders delivered. I personally could not stop laughing the entire time.
Senior Isaac Hughes, president of The Deliverance Project, “All we’ve done for most of The Deliverance Project is music. We think people can connect with music on a very deep level, but the more we thought about it the more we thought that we needed to change things up a little bit and offer the same uplifting message but with comedy. So I just did some research and fell upon Sanders.”
Obviously, Sanders did not just spring upon UIndy himself, thanks to The Deliverance Project he left his mark on campus.
Hughes later went on to say, “We were overly pleased with his performance and his demeanor. He is a great guy and very fun to work with.”
Amanda Henderson, an audience member during the skit, said, “I enjoyed the way he carried himself on stage, every joke he made I related to easily. Especially the cell phone bit. I was near tears the entire show. I literally did not stop laughing from the time I sat down until the time I left.”
Even after the show the laughter continued, my friends and I reiterated his jokes to each other for a good laugh later in the week.”
It’s plain to see that Sanders was a big hit with UIndy. His audience interaction was a huge hit and they reacted very well to his sense of humor.
It was, with out doubt, one of the funniest things I’ve sat through this year.
For the future, The Deliverance Project is working on some more shows and are in the process of getting more notable names to the campus so be sure to keep your eye open if you missed out on Horace.
You’re most definitly not going to want to miss out on what’s next.
