Comedian jokes about celebs, attractive wife
Comedian, rapper and TV personality Nick Cannon performed a stand-up comedy act for a packed 650-student Russell House Ballroom Monday night.
Known best for his work with Nickelodeon, “Drumline” (2002) and his role as host of “America’s Got Talent,” the comedian kept the audience laughing with his bits about the Gamecocks, his wife Mariah Carey and a whole slew of his celebrity pals.
Cannon’s opening act, Pastor Case, revved up the crowd with an onstage dance to some good gospel “church” music and a 10-minute bit filled with jabs at the southern girl’s physique, Waffle House and Kim Kardashian’s backside.
Looking dapper in a white button-down shirt and a black tuxedo suit, Cannon received a warm welcome from the crowd.
In his self-introduction, Cannon gushed, “You might have seen him in the background of pictures of Mariah Carey, holding her umbrella.”
He went on to swoon over his pop star wife, earning “oohs” and “awws” of adoration from the audience, setting out to answer the question, “How in the hell did you get Mariah Carey?”
He quickly answered with, “I don’t know. My life turned out like a really good game of MASH.”
Cannon name-dropped through his jokes, ragging on Tyra Banks and “America’s Top Forehead,” Rosie O’Donnell and Kanye West, reenacting the infamous Taylor Swift MTV Video Music Awards run-in.
The on-screen star also brought up his childhood, mentioning “hood habits,” which were a result of growing up in a rough neighborhood with a frugal mother and “gangsta” family.
The recent rivalry between rapper Eminem and Cannon was also a major point of the act. Cannon mentioned how his “gangsta” grandfather disapproved of the way the incident was handled, preferring a more direct approach involving going to Eminem’s home nude and showing “just why [he] was named Cannon.”
A USC student in the front row became a running joke early into the act, pointed out as the sole boy in a sea of girls. The student’s sunglasses and plaid sweater drew Cannon to use him as an example of a typical white person.
Cannon put on a solid and well-received show, bringing his act to a close with a push to end racism at USC and in South Carolina.