Augustana Observer

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Augustana Observer

Diverse comedian Gina Brillon comes to Augustana

Comedian Gina Brillon, winner of NBC’s “Stand-Up for Diversity” in 2012, believes in connecting with her audience through her diversity and life stories.

She will be featured in the Gävle room for Comedy Club on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.

Brillon, who is inspired by comedians like George Carlin, bases her stand-up in real life experience, but she does not shy away from using her humor as a means of social commentary. She bases her sets around this, as she will when she performs at Augustana. However, she explains that she pays attention to each audience before the show, to read their energy level. She adjusts the material in her set and her energy level to fit what she gets from the audience. She believes with this and the honesty in her stand-up, she can connect with her audience.

“I like talking about life experience, because that is what the audience can relate to the most,” said Brillon. “I feel like a lot of my audience and I are coming from the same place.”

Connecting with her audience is one of the reasons Brillon enjoys performing at colleges. She likes the people she meets there; she explains instances where she talks and even forms friendships with people after shows. Brillon also appreciates the atmosphere of a college setting. There is less distraction, and because the audience pays closer attention, she believes there is more intimacy.

“There are so many colleges I have been at where the kids are just so amazing,” Brillon said. “As far as performing stand-up, being on the college tour is amazing.”

Due to her win on “Stand-Up for Diversity,” Brillon has been one of the comedians featured in the NBC college tour. Aside from that, Brillon has been on television shows such as “Chelsea Lately” and “The View.” She is also going to be on Gabriel Iglesias’s “Stand-Up Revolution.”

“Things have been moving rapidly and wonderfully, so I could not be happier with how this year is going,” said Brillon.

Brillon focuses some of her stand-up on her ethnicity and background, as a Puerto Rican woman born in The Bronx, which is part of the reason the Multicultural Programming Board picked her to be on Comedy Club. Co-chair Teddy Hedrick explains Brillon is blunt and humorous about what she has gone through and that she wears her diversity proudly.

“I think she will be really funny for the audience,” Hedrick said. “She will target them perfectly.”

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Diverse comedian Gina Brillon comes to Augustana