2010 VEISHEA Says I’m Funny winner Andrew Lopez to emcee in 2011

VEISHEA 2011: Student events

By Cole Komma
Ames247 writer

On a late night in the residence halls, Andrew Lopez and his friends were watching YouTube videos. One of them happened to be a pretty poor stand-up comedian. He thought the performance was inadequate and felt he could do better.

His friends said prove it, so he signed up for VEISHEA Says I’m Funny. And he won.

“I just entered it for fun” he said, not knowing his life would be changed.

He was given seven minutes to bring out his comedic best. His act had some cursing and he said he was told he could swear. However, when he arrived that night he was told he couldn’t. This made him nervous because many of his punchlines included cursing.

“I just cursed anyway.”

Lopez, junior in communication studies and winner of last year’s VEISHEA Says I’m Funny, will serve as this year’s emcee.

Now Lopez can be found all over the Midwest doing shows at different colleges. In his younger days, Lopez was drawn to comedians such as Aziz Ansari and Reggie Watts, who appeal to college kids. His style of jokes and delivery mostly came from Ansari.

“I like to talk to the crowd, and sort of use them in my act” he said.

His favorite joke is when he takes a copy of the Iowa State Daily and pretends as though he wrote a letter to the editor of the issue.

Before he performs he prefers to sit alone and tells himself negative thoughts such as “I’m not funny.”

“I use comedy to vent some ideas I have” Lopez said. He has crush on a certain girl who goes to Iowa State and refers to her in many of his shows to vent his emotions.

“I don’t really know what I want to do,” he said “I would like to move to Los Angeles and just do comedy, like Judd Apatow.”

Apatow started doing exactly what Andrew is doing: working for his school and booking acts for different events. Now, Apatow is a movie producer of many hit movies including “Superbad,” “Anchorman” and “The 40 Year Old Virgin.”

Lopez urges anyone interested on comedy to just do it.

“Stand up anywhere and everywhere.”

VEISHEA Says I’m Funny
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 12
Where: Maintenance Shop, Memorial Union
Cost: Free

Contestants

• Paul Weis
• Tommy Couri
• Ben Aldritt
• Jordan Tucole
• Dr. David Faber
• Chris Tedford
• Joey Ficken
• Austin Ballhagen
• David O’Brian
• Chris Cox
• Andrew Koenring
• Jacob Balough
• Chris Miller
• Enrique Porras
• Jonathan Eimer
• Alex Glenn