He’s been coming to Plymouth State University for years now, bringing laughs to campus every fall, and this year was no different. Buzz Sutherland came back to Plymouth last Tuesday in the Silver Center Hannaway Theater. Sutherland has been featured on HBO’s Comic Relief specials as well as the Half Hour Comedy Hour on MTV and CMT Comedy Stage. Sutherland has also been voted the Comedian of the Year by the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) five years in a row, proving his deft ability at entertaining tough college crowds.
Performing a set geared towards first year students, Sutherland also garnered chuckles from upper classmen and sophomores as well. Cassidy Spencer, a sophomore, enjoyed the performance. “I thought he was hilarious, his jokes were funny and were respectable for the most part, which was cool.” Spencer also pointed out that although Buzz has performed at PSU multiple times, he is always adding new material. As Spencer said, Sutherland’s material mostly focuses on the cleaner side of comedy, with a set that is all ages.
Sutherland didn’t just impress the audience with his comedic chops though. Sutherland showed off his various impressions of famous characters, including just about the entire cast of “King of the Hill” and multiple renditions of Donald Duck. Sutherland also showed selections from his DVD, including the music video for his Donald Duck themed parody of Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” called; you guessed it, “Ducks in the Wind”.
Transitioning to a more serious tone, he discussed his experience with alcohol abuse and why his college age fans are so important to him. Sutherland then capped off his set by inviting his friend, mentalist Michael C. Anthony, onto the stage to perform an audience-wide trick to finish off the show. Anthony, who had performed at the Hannaway theater the night before, predicted a set of numbers chosen by certain audience members via a prerecorded message from the night before. Buzz Sutherland certainly had his audience laughing, and left them suitably thrilled thanks to his mentalist friend.