Ahdoot performed at Linfield in January 2009, but he came back to bring more laughs.
Ahdoot opened by asking about the audience’s cultures because of Diversity Week. Language and content caused several people to leave during his act. He apologized but got quick laughs from the audience.
“He was very funny, and I think it was cool that he got all his material from the students instead of having it rehearsed,” freshman Anamaria Maldonado said.
Ahdoot is known for revolving his jokes around his heritage as an Iranian Jew, such as in the joke he used on the “Jay Leno Show”: “Iranian Jew; it’s really one of those classic combinations, like peanut butter and cat.”
Ahdoot has been featured on “The Jay Leno Show,” Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and was a guest at the “Comedy Central South Beach Comedy Festival,” according to Ahdoot’s website.
He was also a finalist in the second season of the show “Last Comic Standing.”
Ahdoot is also an actor and a writer. He was featured in a McDonald’s commercial and has written for MTV’s “Short Circuitz” and a roast of Gene Simmons.
Ahdoot went to Johns Hopkins University and graduated with honors and planned to be a medical student. Instead he decided to become a comedian.
“It was something I always wanted to do when I was a kid,” Ahdoot said.
According to his website, he is one of the most booked college acts in America and has performed at more than 300 colleges.
“He is really popular in the college circuit and he is in very high demand and a big deal,” junior Linfield Activities Board Special Event Chair Rachel Coffey said.
Coffey organized the event. She said she remembered him from a past performance at Linfield.
“He came my freshman year during Jan[uary] Term,” Coffey said. “He has been the best comedian that has come to Linfield and he is just so funny and he rules that stage when he is up there. I was in tears for most of the show.”
Coffey said she liked the last part of Ahdoot’s act.
“At the end of the show, he’ll make a prank call. The prank call really brought down the house,” she said.
That is exactly what he did this year. He asked the audience for a volunteer so he could call their parents. He called a girl’s father and asked for permission to date his daughter.
There is a long process in choosing a comedian to perform at the college. As Coffey said, she spent most of her summer going through talent agencies and watching comedian’s YouTube videos.
“We spend three days watching performers. It’s mainly just like research for anything else you would do,” she said.
Coffey said she was excited to bring Ahdoot back and numerous students said he is a hilarious comedian.
Tim Marl/Staff reporter
Tim Marl can be reached at [email protected].
