Stony Brook’s USG has officially announced two high-profile acts for its spring comedy show, stand-up comedians Wyatt Cenac and John Oliver. Cenac and Oliver have both been prominently featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which airs on Comedy Central and is known for its use of political satire.
Cenac, age 36, was born in New York City and raised in Dallas. He worked as both a writer and a correspondent for The Daily Show beginning in June 2008, until he left the show on Dec. 13, 2012. Cenac contributed numerous satirical skits to the program such as “Rappers or Republicans,” a faux game show segment that aired on July 18, 2008. Other notable ventures for Cenac have included three years as a writer for Fox Network’s animated comedy King of the Hill and voicing Lenny on the Nickelodeon series Fanboy and Chum Chum.
Oliver, a British immigrant, has worked as a correspondent for The Daily Show since 2006. Despite his foreign origin, Oliver has realized success on the show because, as he explained in an April 7, 2010 interview with the British newspaper The Independent, it is done for laughs and is not intended to be a serious journalistic source. In addition to his work on The Daily Show, Oliver hosts his own show on Comedy Central, John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show. He also provided the voice for Vanity Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs.
The comedy show is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Staller Center. Students can obtain free tickets with an ID card at the SAC box office, 9 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7.
