On Friday, Jan. 20, the Event Planning and Organizing Committee (EPOC) brought comedian Chloé Hilliard from her native New York to perform her new stand-up material for students as she tours across the United States performing at colleges. To bring Hilliard to campus, EPOC representatives visited the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) conference last year in order to book events for students for the entire year. Some examples of NACA-booked events include the paint party held in the Quad last term and the comedian Kiran Deol, also from Fall term. Chloé Hilliard’s arrival has been something that EPOC has been waiting for all year.
At 9 p.m., Chloé Hilliard got on stage and started her set. She brought tons of energy to the stage, leaving the crowd laughing and delighted at the end of every joke. Hilliard approached her comedy from a personal perspective, telling stories about growing up in Brooklyn, going to a small college and her professional career as a comic. She later focused herself on the audience, asking questions and engaging herself with the very responsive crowd. Just before the end of her set, Hilliard brought her thoughts to the Inauguration and her feelings about the new era in American politics, reacting that it is what we make of it. After the set, she spent a lot of time visiting with students and talking about everything from comedy to current events.
Overall, Chloé Hilliard’s set was a huge success—Mead Witter was almost packed with students, and many left the room with huge smiles on their faces. There will be many more EPOC sponsored events to come in the next several weeks to close out the term; the next EPOC sponsored event will be slam poet Natasha Miller on Friday, Feb. 17.
