Keeping up with the high bar the University Program Council has set for speakers, comedian Kenan Thompson will return to his southeastern roots to perform at Auburn Tuesday, Jan. 29.
"Kenan's definitely really excited to come to Auburn," said Ricky Scheuerle, UPC director of speakers and comedians. "It's in an area of the country that he's familiar with, being from Atlanta, so it's definitely something he's excited about and wanted to do."
Scheuerle's interest in bringing Thompson to Auburn's campus has grown since last year.
"UPC has always kind of talked about it, so we're really excited that the plan went through and we're able to do this," Scheuerle said.
Thompson's comedic lineup is hard to predict, but he always engages the audience in his performances, Scheuerle said,
"He wants a lot of people to get up and interact with him by asking questions," Scheuerle said. "He does something a little different with each school, so he really tries to look at each campus as a separate unit. It will definitely be entertaining and he's one of the biggest comedians out there right now, so people are really looking forward to it."
Scheuerle said Thompson has an interesting platform that is a mixture of comedy and storytelling.
"He'll tell this story about 'one time with a celebrity...' and how that encounter was," Scheuerle said. "He's a funny storyteller that wants to tell how he got to where he is."
Scheuerle and his committee made their decision on this spring's speaker after looking at more than a dozen candidates. He said they wanted the comedian who would draw the biggest crowd.
"We're really trying to establish a speaker that people are going to want to hear and look forward to," Scheuerle said. "Before, I felt like that ideal wasn't really established and it was harder to catch people's interests."
After the last-minute location change for fall semester's speaker Bill Nye, Scheuerle said UPC has been able to gauge students' interests better than ever before. He is expecting approximately 3,000-4,000 students to attend.
"We definitely deal with Kenan Thompson on the same level as Bill Nye and immediately put him in the arena," Scheuerle said.
UPC limits the number of people involved in the decision making process.
"That way it doesn't get around to who we're looking at, but we still have a broad interest group," Scheuerle said.
Scheuerle reflected on his love for Thompson's comedy that dates all the way back to "All That."
"If you asked me when I was five years old if I liked Kenan Thompson my answer would be, 'Of course I like Kenan Thompson,' and if you asked me if I liked him now, I would say, 'I like watching him on SNL,'" Scheuerle said.
UPC wanted to appeal to as many students as possible, Scheuerle said.
"Somebody who is a classic example of somebody that has influenced your, or others' lives," Scheuerle said. "Somebody who has always had appeal and relevance, not a buzz speaker that is really popular now and only appeals to a fraction of the population. I feel like Kenan really personifies that."
The performance will be held in the arena and doors open at 6 p.m. Entry will require a student I.D.
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