Baseball sweeps Lafayette in home opener SAPB comedy show a standout success for students

Comedians Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker took the stage to an energetic crowd.

Casey Monahan arts & culture contributor

Binghamton University welcomed Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker at the Osterhout Concert Theater on Thursday, March 16, for the Student Association Programming Board’s (SAPB) annual comedy show. The two received major laughs from the audience as they discussed a variety of topics ranging from the meaning of life to what Colin Jost smells like.

Bearcats win third consecutive series, set to face Penn State for one game on Tuesday.

Jack Oh sports editor

For the first time this season, the Binghamton baseball team opened its doors to the Bearcats Baseball

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Complex for a weekend series against Lafayette. After winning game one on Friday, the Bearcats took both games of the doubleheader on Saturday to complete the threegame sweep over the Leopards.

“Winning three games on a weekend is difficult in college baseball no matter who the opponent is, where you’re playing [or] what the conditions are,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “So I’m really happy that we were able to find a way to get all three wins … Are we quite where we want to be yet as a ball club? Not yet, but we’re getting there. We saw some good things and we just have to keep moving forward and working hard like the guys do all the time.” see baseball page 10

The two comedians are relatively new to “Saturday Night Live,” with their most notable contributions being their segments on Weekend Update where they tell anecdotes about their life or their opinions on certain topics. Prior to “Saturday Night Live,” Longfellow was featured in the “Netflix is a Joke” Festival, and Walker was a writer for the animated series “Big Mouth” and Freeform’s “Everything’s Trash.”

Victoria Manfredi, SAPB Comedy Chair and a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience, described how the show came to be.

“I discovered [Longfellow] and [Walker] when they debuted on ‘Saturday Night Live’ this season and thought they were hilarious and would be a great act to bring to campus,” Manfredi wrote in an email. “I think bringing comedy to campus is important to give people a chance to experience a type of show they might not have seen before.” see comedy page 6

Manfredi introduced the show and apologized for the late delay as the two comedians were stuck in traffic. Despite the delay, the audience warmly welcomed them as they came on stage and acknowledged the mishap.

The show began with a coin toss to decide whether Longfellow or Walker would start, which resulted in Longfellow reluctantly going first. His deadpan and muted comedic style were reminiscent of the late “Saturday Night Live” alum Norm Macdonald, whom he later mentioned was a source of inspiration for him. His jokes revolved around stories from his childhood and his time at Arizona State University. The most notable part of his set was his discussion of his relationship with his stepfather, Terry, whom he’s also mentioned on Weekend Update and other standups online.

Longfellow also interacted with the audience by inquiring about BU’s most interesting aspects, also talking about his own school experience. He half-jokingly said he went to Arizona State University because it had a 99.8 percent acceptance rate and was basically his only option since he was never very school-oriented.

Tuesday, March 21, 2023