Campbell Was A Barrel of Laughs at WCU

Comedian Jesse Campbell performed at Illusions on Friday, Mar. 13. It was one of the many events presented as part of Western Carolina’s “Stay At Western Weekend.”

Campbell’s carefree, “whatev” brand of comedy had students chuckling from 8pm until 9:30, as she spun stories about everything from ghosts to wild animals. Many of her narratives take place in public restrooms, which she attributes to the experience of having “a really small bladder.”

The beginning segment of Campbell’s sketch was about bears: as Jesse pointed out in her performance, you never hear a good news story about bears. She talked about a news story she had recently read about a woman who hand-fed a bear trail mix. When the trail mix ran out, the bear mauled the woman. Campbell completely sympathized with the bear, saying, “if a pizza walked up and gave me a doughnut, some stuff would go down.”

Campbell also talked about her relationship with her father. While teaching her to ride a bike, he urged her to go down a hill without his help. He laughed when she rolled down the hill and crashed into a bush. When she asked him why he did that, he just said that she would understand one day. Campbell said she was finally able to understand years later, when pushing her father in a wheelchair after he recently had surgery. The parking garage they were in had a downhill slope. She let go of the handles and laughed.

About Campbell

Jesse Campbell is 26 years old and has performed comedy at the Boston Comedy Festival, as well as college campuses around the nation. She is also a writer for Life and Style magazine. Jesse is a self-proclaimed “awkward” individual, and enjoys Scrabble. She has a tattoo on her lower back (a tramp stamp) of a tribal rendition of a peacock that looks strangely like a marijuana leaf.

(Students interested in Jesse Campbell’s comedy can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.)