During his set, Agyei held nothing back, jumping from lighthearted to serious subjects without hesitation. Photo courtesy of William Yeager

UPC brought Los Angeles comedian Stephen Agyei to perform in Farmer Hall on Jan. 15th. 

Ageyi, 29 years old, told the audience stories about his judgmental African family, childhood antics of farting in jars and why he doesn’t date on Tinder. 

He also invited students to ask him questions during his performance, prompting him to reveal what he believed to be the two hardest things about comedy. 

“Making people laugh and choosing your battles because you don’t want to offend for the sake of offending. You want to make a joke to make a point, but also you want it to be funny,” said Agyei. 

Agyei also shared with the audience what it took for him to leave behind Colorado, his home state, and his job at human resources to pursue comedy full-time.  

“You learn at a certain point in whatever you career is that you gotta dive in all the way. Believe in yourself because things will start to happen,” said Agyei. 

Aspen Snow, a sociology major, said that he thought Agyei was the right mixture of edgy and entertaining. He also said that he really liked having a comedian on campus, and it was a great program to have.  

“He was brave to go there, and I’m glad he did. I’m always for pushing the envelope. I’m relieved that he went for it,” said Snow, age 22.  

Thomas Dillard, a freshman, also said that he was excited to see a comedian for the first time in person, and looks forward to viewing Agyei’s future content on YouTube. 

“I came a little bit late, but liked it ever since he started talking about how he became a comedian. I thought that was interesting and cool because you don’t really hear that in comedy shows,” said Dillard, an 18-year-old business management major from Birmingham.  

“I hope they got the message that we’re all in this together. Whatever the jokes may be, about race or whatnot, the ultimate message is that we’re all together,” Agyei said after his performance. 

The comedian also said that comedy is crucial for bringing people together. 

“Comedy is a way to bridge that gap of disconnect in the nation, in my opinion. People from different backgrounds, everyone loves to laugh.”  

Agyei said he believed that it was important for him to perform for college audiences because it gives him a glimpse of the future. 

“The younger generation has the newer ideas, and I think this is probably the best place for soaking up some of that youth and those ideas and seeing what the future is going to look like,” said Agyei. 

“This is the first UPC event of this semester, and so I really hope everyone gets from this the idea that UPC is for the students and we really want to make sure that they enjoy what they come to,” said Bria Owens, UM’s UPC coordinator. 

 
Owens and other members of UPC picked Agyei from National Associate for Campus Activities, where he was a featured performer.