"Words are important; [they're] all that separate us from the mimes." This is one of the many jokes that comedian Myq Kaplan '00, the self-proclaimed "word magician," told during his stand-up routine in the Levin Ballroom last Tuesday. For Kaplan, an undergraduate at Brandeis 10 years ago, he saw his return to the University as a favor to the rest of us, since he's collecting back some of the money he paid to the school in tuition. The comedy show put on by Student Events was emceed by Devon Hermenau '11, a member of the Brandeis improv group TBA. Hermenau, who went by "MC Voltage" for the night, introduced members of the Boston-based improv comedy club ImprovBoston, who opened for Kaplan with a half-hour improv show. ImprovBoston began its routine with a game of "Pan Left/Pan Right," similar to the game "Cube," in which improvisers must rotate to the left or right, changing partners and scenes constantly. Although ImprovBoston was voted the No. 1 Comedy Club in Boston by The Boston Phoenix and puts on some very funny shows, their performance at this show felt forced and clichéd and did not get that many laughs.

The peak of that performance occurred early on, when the comedians played a game in which two improvisers were each given an audience volunteer, whom they tapped when they needed suggestions for how to finish a sentence. The scene, which started out as a meeting between a teacher and a student, developed into an argument as the two accused each other of horrendous acts of misconduct, escalating the drama. The game worked so well in part because the audience volunteers suggested words that had no relevance in the context, such as "diapers" and "cocaine club," forcing the improvisers to justify their usage. The games were a good way to warm up the crowd, but overall, the group's performance was less than what was expected from such an illustrious comedy club.

Once the improv part of the evening was over, Kaplan came on to start the stand-up portion of the night, commenting that there would be a lot of audience participation in his act as well, since he needed people to sit "there . and laugh." He began his routine with a rapid-fire succession of short, to-the-point bits, mostly based off of observations he has made in daily life.

For instance, he talked about the fact that most rap CDs these days have a label which reads "explicit lyrics" on the cover, something he thinks is stating the obvious due to the nature of the songs, let alone the curse words apparent in the rappers' names. If Kaplan were to make a CD, his would read "implicit lyrics," and he would make ambiguous threats in his songs, like, "You know what I'm gonna do, I don't need to say it"

Kaplan also promised he would say things he hadn't been allowed to say on NBC, referencing his recent rise to fame on the television show Last Comic Standing this past summer, where he came in fifth place. He then revealed these forbidden things, such as the fact that he preferred to watch CBS and thought other channels had worthwhile shows too. Much of his humor played on the audience's expectations, promising the audience something big and then giving us in return something much more obvious and more mundane-a technique which can have varied results.

Many of the jokes Kaplan made pertained to Brandeis, Judaism or both. Kaplan graduated from Brandeis in 2000, and so in his routine he mocked many of the dorky Brandeisian traditions we have that he experienced during his time here as well. Some of these jokes included our sports teams being called the Judges (the bad guys on the other team better be scared!) and our mascot being a studious owl (he'll calculate why we're losing at halftime).

Although his humor was relatable, it was at times too Brandeisian, playing to the fact that he had a mostly Jewish, liberal audience and making jokes that we've all heard before but still laugh at since we "get" them.

One instance is when he asked if there were any goys in the audience, and then said that he wouldn't bother explaining what it meant because if you didn't know then you obviously were one.

On the other hand, audience member Elana Friedland '11 said her favorite part was when Kaplan compared his ability to hide jokes to hiding the afikomen. He then made fun of his own joke, asking "Guess where else that [joke] gets applause? Nowhere."

The best parts of his routine were humorous because of his awkward silences and self-critiques of his jokes and of the audience's reactions, reinforcing the Brandeis style of humor that seems to be very typical here. This is not necessarily a negative, but it was a bit eerie how similar his delivery and content were to most other comedy routines you hear at Brandeis, either by professional comedians or by students.

His strengths did shine through, however, in his witty and original take on basic facts of life, like his concept of what science fiction must have been like in the time of the ancient Greeks, when they didn't have the technological fears we have today: "Beware, [there's a] pulley, [a] lever, [an] inclined plane-inclined to kill you."

His ability to maintain a straight face throughout his act was also quite impressive, since comedians who break character and laugh at their own jokes often ruin it for the audience. Although his routine started off on an extremely high note and became a bit too topic-specific toward the end, Kaplan put on a good show overall, making the audience laugh with his witticisms and wordplay. After the show, people lined up to talk with him and buy his CD, many even asking for his autograph, proving that Brandeis can give birth to good comedians, and not just doctors, as some might think.