The Activities Programming Board held a stand-up comedy show featuring comedian Daniel Packard, who uses comedy to teach young people about love and sex, Tuesday night in the Student Union Ballroom.
The major theme of Packard’s show was “just go for it.” Packard urged those in attendance to open their hearts to love, and to not be afraid to go after what they desire. He also spoke about rejection, and how the fear of rejection perpetuates the inability to pursue love interests.
The show, which would have been hilarious any day of the year, was even more relevant during the week of Valentine’s Day. Packard spoke to a largely single crowd, giving audience members tips on dating and sex.
“Thinking doesn’t get love,” Packard told the men in the audience. He told the men to quit over thinking their dating life. The person you are pursuing is going to say either yes or no, but either answer should not be the determining factor as to how you view yourself, he said.
Packard, who has been performing stand-up for over 20 years, involves the audience a great deal during his show. He allowed students to text answers and opinions to a computer server. The text messages were displayed on a large screen during his show. Many of the comments were raunchy, but the crowd loved the ability to interact with the show and many laughs were had because of the texts during the show.
Packard targeted young women as the focus of many of his jokes. He urged women to stop scaring men by getting angry with them when they don’t react to their wants or desires right away. Men are stupid, he said, and women need to be patient and explain what they want and need, whether sexually or emotionally. He begged women to be patient, saying it is better if a woman gently coaches a man instead of getting frustrated or mad with him.
Packard, a self-proclaimed former class clown, answered many types of sexual questions from audience members throughout the show. Packard made the point college age men and women don’t understand each other’s wants in a relationship, and if they just cooperated, they would have more productive relationships.
One major difference between the sexes, Packard pointed out, was the difference in the level of excitement between men and women when he asked for the single audience members to raise their hands. “Girls are all like, ‘Yay me I’m single and loving it!’. The men are always like, ‘Ugh, I’m single, this sucks,’” said Packard.
Many of the women in the audience agreed with Packard when he said men find it hard to figure women out because most women have not figured out who they are and what they want.
He also urged the college men in attendance to start dressing nicer. The women erupted with laughter and agreed with Packard whole heartedly. He informed the men to not look like “methed-out lumberjacks”.
During part of the show, Packard asked women to yell out their steamiest sexual fantasies. This was met by silence from the audience. He then allowed them to text their fantasies, and the laughter was immediate.
Packard was admittedly disappointed the females in attendance were timid throughout the show. “I’m up there sharing these things that if they [women] got, would really make their lives better. And I know this because I’m a dating coach and the same wisdom that goes into the show, goes into the coaching that has helped a lot of women find love,” said Packard.
He went on to say that through discussions with his fiancée, he has learned to accept that much of his comedy is extremely blunt, and many women do not want to interact during the show when they are confronted with questions regarding love and sex.
Joey Cunningham, external relations chair for the APB, discovered Packard through an email from his adviser containing a YouTube video. He felt Packard would bring a great mix of comedy and seriousness to NKU.
“He uses the comedy to bring the women in and allow them to trust him, and then he gets to the seriousness of ‘this is what’s going on in everyone’s mind,’ and how to make sure you truly love yourself and know that somebody else will love you too,” said Cunningham.
Mary Vonlehman, a sophomore nursing major, liked how accurate Packard was. “Even when the girls wouldn’t agree with what he said, he pointed out why he was right and you could see all the girls hide their faces,” said Vonlehman. She went on to say she felt Packard did a good job of mixing comedy with a serious topic.
Kyle Taylor, a freshman Theater major who Packard brought on stage with him during the show, said “He let me know that I wasn’t alone with these fears that I had, that pretty much every guy had the exact same thoughts that I did; and that women had some similar thoughts too, and that they are also afraid to open up too.” Taylor went on to say that Packard let him know that he was a good enough person to find love and compassion from another person.
For more information on Daniel Packard, visit his website at www.danielpackard.com. For more information on upcoming APB events, look for announcement via the D3 Network or visit www.nku.edu/apb.