Thoughts on Uptown-Showdown Debate

Coming in to the debate, I had no affiliation toward a side since I don’t celebrate either holiday. Therefore, I judged this “debate” based on which side was funnier, rather than which side made the best claim for their respective holiday. In terms of being funny, I think the Hanukkah side won, especially because of their first speaker (Seth?). He was the one that made me laugh the most. On the Christmas side, I didn’t think the man with the vacuum and Michael Showalter were that funny. Using a vacuum as a smell machine was an interesting prop, but I felt that his performance became very repetitive. Michael Showalter’s performance was not too bad, but I felt that most of it did not pertain to the debate. Unlike those two, Seth’s performance was both funny and relevant to the debate.

I thought the best part of the whole performance was the interactions between the comedians and the crowd. I liked how the comedians were very responsive to what the crowd did. Someone in the crowd might say something, and the comedian would respond to the audience. The Q&A session was also very entertaining. While it was a bit awkward, I found it really funny how whoever asked a question was pretty much embarrassed by the comedians. Overall, I enjoyed this performance.