In ninety-ninety minutes, on Sept. 9, four comedians took the stage to fill ETSU with laughter. With raunchy jokes about sex, drugs and race, no topic was off-limits.
The Young Professionals of Johnson City and ETSU Leadership and Civic Engagement sponsored the event with the Hip to Be Square Comedy hosting the event.
The show was advertised as an 18+ plus show with explicit language; however, 15+ year olds could come if they had a guardian. No phones or videos. No heckling.
General admission was $20. VIP was $50, which included premiere seating, autographs, food and drinks, a post-show party, a ticket, a meet and greet and photos in the East Tennessee Room. The tickets could be paid with cash, Venmo, Discover, Paypal, Apple Pay, Debit or Google Pay, and could be paid online or at the Information Booth. Every ticket and piece of merchandise sold helped to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The doors opened one hour before show time and the Culp Auditorium played a Netflix documentary featuring Ukraine President Zelenskyy. The show had student volunteers and security that helped. Patrons could buy T-shirts before and after the show.
The show started at 9 p.m. with emcees Yaroslav (Yaro) Hnatusko and Gary Jackson hosting the event. The lineup featured Mason Guidry, a comedian from Knoxville; Minori Hinds from Asheville, a female Japanese comedian; Keith Marcell, a comedian from Knoxville; and the headliner was Paul Ogata from the Late Show, Showtime, Amazon Prime and Comedy Central.
“Craziest comedy show to be done in East TN,” said Jackson.
The show was to help Yaro’s home country Ukraine through his organization: “Restore Ukraine.” The original goal was to raise $18,000. “Restore Ukraine” has already raised two million dollars. Yaro started the organization while he was getting his masters as a graduate assistant. All the donations will be put towards the distribution center in east Tennessee to make a care package in October for winter clothes for Ukrainians in the winter.
The “Restore Ukraine” organization and its website were recently hacked.
Jackson and Yaro talked about a fellow paramedic in Ukraine named Nini with the organization who helps with wounded soldiers on the frontlines. They showed a video of her testimony in the war with her on the frontlines. The video compared Nini from 2016 and 2023 as the toll of the war was on her. They renamed the Nine-Nine show to the Nini-Nini show.
“Sad part first, comedy later,” said Jackson.
Yara talked about how the title Nine-Nine was named after the date, Sept. 9, ninety-ninety minutes into the show, and 9/11
“What political side you are, what country you are, we are really glad you are here,” said Yaro.
Guidry joked about “Game of Thrones”, white trash, Las Vegas, tattoos, Dollar General and dolphins.
Hinds used interactive comedy with the audience in her opening and used her story as an immigrant during the ’90s and dealing with Asian stereotypes to influence her comedy.
Marcell stated that he was an impasse being the judge, jury and executioner, while also talking about the Blind Side, white savior, spiritual journey, mental health and planet fitness.
Ogata started his set with a new student orientation pamphlet arguing the need against it. He had no limits going after Johnson City, ETSU, Pals and members of the audience. He interacted with the audience, projector and his own mic stand. Within his allotted fifty minutes, he made the auditorium laugh with different ranges of topics.
“Wherever he goes he makes people pee his pants,” said Jackson about Ogata.
At the end of the show, it raised $5,000 in total. Patrons could upgrade their tickets to VIP by buying a T-shirt at the end of the show.
