Chapman hosts “Saturday Night Live” cast member Alex Moffat

Alex Moffat, a comedian on Saturday Night Live, performed a standup show Aug. 30 for Chapman students in an event organized by the University Program Board. WikiCommons

After collecting dust for over a year and a half, the stage at Memorial Hall lit up once again Aug. 30, welcomed by a theater packed to the brim with students.

Reverberating throughout the room were familiar sounds some never thought they would hear again: the clatter of metal water bottles falling over, the chatter of the crowd and the echo of one emphatic student yelling “BONER!” in the middle of the show. It was like music to the ears.

But the main event was Alex Moffat, an actor and comedian best known for his work as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” Chapman’s University Program Board organized the event as part of the kick-off for Welcome Back Week.

Junior television writing and production major Josh Erenberg recounted the hilarity of Moffat, which he experienced firsthand when he sat in the front row and unwittingly became a central figure in one of the comedian’s bits. 

“He called Donald Trump a GILF and he requested a fist bump for it,” Erenberg said. “I was like, sure, why not? I didn’t think anything past it. Later, while he was doing a German accent and I understood absolutely nothing he said, he requested another fist bump, and he then called me racist for it.” 

This happened twice more until Erenberg realized that Moffat would declare him racist every time he gave him a fist bump, so he refused the fourth request. Moffat then pronounced him racist for the refusal. As a student who transferred last fall, the show was Erenberg’s first in-person Chapman event.

“The event genuinely changed my entire perspective of Chapman, because I went from being that scared little new kid to, now, everyone (knowing) me as the racist best friend of Alex Moffat,” Erenberg said. “It was a very dramatic change in the span of two hours.”

The student who stepped in to take the fourth fist bump when Erenberg declined was Brandon Sechrist, a junior strategic and corporate communication major. He and his sister Evelyn Sechrist, a sophomore political science major, have been die-hard SNL fans since they started watching with their parents in 2008. 

“It was nice because he was making fun of everything,” Brandon Sechrist said. “It wasn’t just Southern California or local scenery, it was things on campus — even the (cafeteria). He did his research.” 

Throughout the night, Moffat made jokes calling North Morlan a “shithole,” acknowledging the perceived pretentiousness of Dodge College and their beloved Duffer brothers and tricking freshmen into thinking the semi-annual Undie Run is a weekly occurrence. He sought out that information from Katelyn Snook, a junior film production major and the director of Late Night Entertainment for the University Program Board.

“We had a long phone call and he asked a ton of random and specific questions about Chapman,” Snook said. “Basic things like: ‘Are there any groups? Is there Greek life? Are there sports? How big is the school?’ But also: ‘Are there inside jokes? Are there things that students collectively think suck, or are annoyed with?’”

Moffat’s effort to make the night distinctly humorous for Chapman-goers left many attendees feeling proud to be students, or as he fondly referred to them as, “Chapmaniacs.”

“It feels awesome,” said Evelyn Sechrist on her way out of the event. “Since I’m a sophomore, this is my first year on campus, so I am still in awe of everything. For me, this just symbolizes how lucky I am to be here.”