Zach Galifianakis telling the crowd "The word abbreviation is pretty long for what it means."

The beard came and conquered

By: Khaled Okla

Posted: 4/6/07

Hilarity ensued Wednesday night as Zach Galifianakis walked off the stage in the Western Illinois University Union Grand Ballroom in his red "Annie" dress. Confused? Don't worry, it will make sense soon.

It was anticipation that pumped up the students while waiting for Galifianakis after the show started about 15 minutes late, and for the "Dog Bites Man" star, you need a "warm-up" act, so to speak.

Western's own Ryan Budds opened for the bearded jokester with great response. Budds had recently won a contest allowing him to open for comedian Dennis Miller, and with a job well done, the University Union Board thought it was good idea to bring him back to help students forget their troubles and laugh.

"It's like the bouncer puts you with a pre-determined dance partner as soon as you walk in the door," Budds said about the local bar A Change of Pace. "It's like, 'Hey, tall, black guy. You're gonna be dancing with that overweight, white girl tonight."

To break the ice with his fellow students, Budds did what any great and wise comedian does to feel at home - he talked about bowel movements. To say the least, students laughed till they cried.

"So I've come to the conclusion that some girls don't take shits," Budds said. "It's like these girls have adapted to the point where they don't have to shit."

While Budds is young, he is well on his way. He has a great stage presence, and with so much on his resume already, he should have no trouble opening for comedians like Galifianakis again - maybe soon, he could be opening for Budds.

"He was pretty funny, and I was actually glad that Zach Galifianakis had an opening act," said Dan Kolb, Western alumnus.

For students interested in Budds' standup, Budds is selling DVDs with his opening act for Christian Finnegan (another recent Western show) and Dennis Miller for $5.

With Budds' trail still behind him after jumping off stage, UUB comedy representative Paul Zanotti, without further adieu, practically screamed the name "Zach Galifianakis!"

For those who don't know Galifianakis and how he does things on stage, he has two set-ups: one, a piano with a microphone in place to bust out his one-liners, and two, a microphone in the front of the stage for the characters he calls "chair-icters."

Galifianakis laid out "The guy who talks about the 'Garfield' movie too much," and "The pretentious illiterate." One character he debuted at Western.

"I don't know if this is going to work. It didn't work at the convenience store I went to today," Galifianakis said. "This is called 'the redneck that asks for manly things at a convenience store but can't say one of the things manly.'"

Students cracked up after Galifianakis spilled out the word "Skittles" in an effeminate voice.

While some of Galifianakis' material performed Wednesday is old, most of it was new to his on-looking fans. One of the funniest jokes of the night that got the crowd falling out of its chairs was something as simple as a statement about a movie.

"I also rented 'Employee of the Month,'" Galifianakis said. "It was as good as I thought it w-."

Before he could rip on the film and say it was horrible, Galifianakis himself busted out laughing as he ended his sentence in a high pitched squeak.

In the midst of the humor, Galifianakis asked for the house lights so he could rap with the students. He wanted to know what students had in store for their futures. Galifianakis asked a student in a fraternity about himself.

"So you're in a fraternity," he said. "You got roofies on you? I know how it works."

After all the joking around, Galifianakis told the crowd, "I have something serious I would like to share with you - a message of hope."

He then proceeded to strip off his collared shirt and khakis, and to the crowd's amazement, he was dressed in full Orphan Annie attire. He then proceeded to lip synch to a recording of "Tomorrow" from the hit musical "Annie."

Along with his "vocal" performance were messages that Galifianakis had written on a large paper pad such as "The world is going to end" and "I would start a revolution, but I just bought a hammock." Perhaps the greatest ovation that he received was for the last message written as Galifianakis was singing "day a way!"

"Kill Dane Cook."

Students applauded with great force after reading his note about the overrated and repetitive comic Dane Cook.

A great show ended with a humble gesture, as Galifianakis signed autographs and took pictures with fans, which congratulated him on an overwhelming show.