On Thursday, March 13, the Student Activities Board (SAB) brought in comedian Aurora Singh, who hails from the real state of California. She had many a joke about PennWest Cal’s more rural lifestyle.
She shared her relatable, funny material with students in the Vulcan Theater, which made the environment seem more personal.
A highlight of her performance was her confidence. With her sparkly boots and bold hair and makeup, Singh commanded the room. Being able to poke fun at her larger size, culture, and upbringing made her seem more down-to-earth and personable.
She also worked with the crowd: learning names, ad-libbing about physical appearances, hyping up people, and even performing a “mind reading” prank on two students sitting towards the front.
Singh knew that she had a future in comedy, and she would spend every night in high school watching stand-up from famous comedians.
“I really wanted to be in entertainment, but I wasn’t allowed to explore it until after college,” she explained, noting that her mother had hopes of earning a higher degree.
Singh’s comedy career started in college when she accidentally won a stand-up competition at a local bar. She also met her future husband, a fellow comedian, that night at the competition.
Now, she has been doing stand-up for eleven years. She is currently on a two-week tour of fourteen colleges and has been featured on several cruises in the past few years.
In addition, Singh was on an episode of “The 100K Pyramid”, was a World Series of Comedy Semi-Finalist for two years, and an Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA) Stand-Up Comedian of the Year.
PennWest Cal’s SAB Executive Board traveled to the APCA convention in Hershey over spring break to line up events for next school year. In addition to speaking to potential vendors, members had the opportunity to attend professional development sessions. Senior communications major Monica Forte also won the Student Programmer of the Year Award.
At a previous convention, SAB sponsor and Assistant Director of Student Development and Engagement Darrek Harshberger discovered Singh and listened to her material.
“I knew we had to bring her in,” Harshberger said.
For Singh, PennWest Cal was part of a block plan, which means that schools in a certain vicinity of each other can contract vendors together, making it cheaper. This can also mean less travel for the performer as they are on tour. After California, Singh was booked to drive to New York.
As a thank you, after her performance, SAB gave Singh a “swag bag” filled with PennWest Cal merchandise. Current SAB President, senior history major Jackson Banes, got to help Singh unpackage and reveal each item in a video posted to Singh’s Instagram @aurorasinghcomedy.
