Comedian H. Jon Benjamin speaks to the sold-out crowd at the Ohio Union grand ballroom on Nov. 4. Credit: Rachel Bules | Lantern reporter
One of comedy’s most recognizable voices showed his face at Ohio State Thursday night.
OUAB brought H. Jon Benjamin, a writer, producer, and the voice actor behind television characters such as Bob Belcher from “Bob’s Burgers” and Sterling Archer from “Archer,” who shared his dry brand of humor with a sold-out crowd of students at the Ohio Union.
Benjamin, a Massachusetts native currently residing in New York City, noted that this was his first time visiting Columbus.
“What even is a buckeye, anyways?” Benjamin asked the crowd. “Is it a slur? Is it a potato?”
Benjamin touched on his career and his involvement with various television shows and comedy acts, but most of his hour onstage was spent sharing funny anecdotes and interacting with the crowd.
He spoke of the impending presidential election, saying it was a refreshing break to leave blue New York and visit a state that could go either way next week. He poked fun at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his supporters.
“Yeah, I grabbed like, three women by the p—- on my way into town today,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin included a few multimedia presentations in his performance, including a short film entitled “Chin Dildo” and a fictional slideshow of photographs from his son’s ninth birthday, which started out as a day at the park and ended with Benjamin naked in a stairwell after they had done ecstasy together.
“It was a nice father-son activity,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin’s excruciatingly dry sense of humor was not lost on the audience.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect from the voice of my favorite cartoons, but Benjamin has a great stage presence and brought so much humor to the crowd,” said Grace Hambrock, a second-year in finance. “I was laughing until my sides hurt.”
In 2015, Benjamin released an experimental jazz album “Well, I Should Have… Learned How to Play the Piano” featuring tracks like “I Can’t Play Piano, Pt. 1” and “I Can’t Play Piano, Pt. 2.”
Benjamin was accompanied by OSU student jazz musicians to help re-create this album for a live crowd.
“Most would call this reckless, but I am a jazz daredevil,” Benjamin said.
A tenor saxophonist, a bassist and a drummer joined Benjamin at the piano. The musicians played beautifully, while Benjamin banged along on the piano, yelling “follow my lead!”
“My favorite part was his jazz performance at the end, where everyone expected Benjamin to play jazz music,” Hambrock said. “In fact, he cannot play the piano.”
