Comic Beth Stelling entertains with personal anecdotes

By MADDY VAN DYKE

University of Mary Washington Giant Productions hosted Los Angeles-based comedian Beth Stelling in the Great Hall on Saturday, Sept. 14.

“We’ve been told she’s funny,” said the emcee introducing Stelling

“We hope she’s funny.”

Unfazed by the less than promising introduction, Stelling took the stage with a quiet, unassuming confidence and proceeded to prove to the audience of forty plus students that she was indeed as funny as they hoped.

Stelling, whose credits include an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show and a feature in LA Weekly’s comic to watch in 2013, charmed the crowd with delightfully funny stand up. Stelling’s humor managed to effortlessly blend self depreciation, with lines such as, “So my parents are divorced…did I say that or is it obvious?” with a sense of superiority without alienating the crowd.

Stelling’s stand-up seems to be taken from snapshots of different points in her life, none of which were told chronologically. She talked about a college experience where she dated a homeless man, which was followed by an anecdote of her childhood trauma involving a goldfish. She then switched topics to recent dubious tattoo choices.

Regardless of order, Stelling’s stories were entertaining. Some stories, such as one involving an army of raccoons, had the crowd inconsolable for several minutes.

Stelling seemed a good choice to perform at UMW. As the first comedian to visit the campus this year, she bodes well for the comedy to come.