'Girl Code' comedian to visit campus as SAC's last stand-up

Laughs are sure to be heard during the last comedic visit of the semester at Southeast Missouri State University with Jessimae Peluso of the MTV show "Girl Code."

Student Activities Council will host Peluso for a stand-up presentation at 8 p.m. on April 21 in the Academic Hall Auditorium.

Abhishek Suryavanshi, Southeast student and SAC comedy coordinator, said he looked for comedians who would be appealing but affordable when it came to his budget within SAC.

"I had to work in my budget, but at the same time I had to find someone which was well known, well known enough to gather a crowd, so I think Jessimae Peluso, since she is on MTV and she's one of the "Girl Code" girls, you know, I thought it would be really popular within the Greek Life and especially with the girls who watch MTV a lot and just in general. I wanted someone famous but still in the budget."

Suryavanshi said the process of selecting a comedian to negotiate with about coming to campus begins with a slideshow presented to all of SAC's members. After the slideshow, the members of SAC vote on who they think would be the best options to visit Southeast. Once Peluso was decided on, Suryavanshi began to speak with her agent.

Suryavanshi said he pushed to bring more female comedians to campus during his year as comedy coordinator and is excited to finish out the year with a better-known comedic figure like Peluso.

"To be honest, it is my last event as a comedy coordinator, so I wanted to leave out with a big bang, and that's why I took a risk, because for the past four or five years, the comedians which are coming are not exactly -- are safe comedians -- they're good comedians, but they're kind of in the lower range of thousands comedians. I took a risk here by bringing an expensive comedian because I wanted to take a risk and, plus, I wanted to see how the student body, general students, they react to a famous person. It's not like just famous, she is legit famous, so a famous person coming to the campus. I'm really looking forward to a crowd, I'm really looking forward to an excited crowd. Not just coming there for the sake of an event, but coming there to see someone perform."

Joanna Shaver, the coordinator of campus programming and adviser to SAC, said bringing Peluso to Southeast was an easy choice because her name is recognizable and she is genuinely funny.

"I think when we talk about comedy you typically think of the male comedians that are out there, especially with, you know, Kevin Hart being so big and popular, but there are so many talented women out there," Shaver said. "At our activities conference we had so many female comedians that showcased and did such a great job, and they just shined above the rest when we were selecting comedians this year."

Suryavanshi said he hopes students take advantage of the opportunity to see Peluso perform considering it will be one of the last big events on campus before finals week.

"I think you should blow off some steam, come there. I definitely feel that coming to an event and watching a person do comedy live is really good for your health," Suryavanshi said. "It is good if you laugh, it's a good dose, and you get relaxed before you start studying, but it's also the factor that she's one of the famous people, so you get to see one of the famous people free of cost because of one of your organizations on campus and you should take full use of it. You should really exploit the resources we are giving as an organization."

"SAC works hard to bring great entertainment to campus and we would love for students to take advantage of it because you never know who you're going to see at college that might be on television one day or in a movie," Shaver said. "... It's really exciting to say, you know, these comedians came to our campus and now they're making it big. You never know who you're going to see."

All students, faculty and staff can attend the event for free with a valid Southeast ID, and other members of the community can attend for $5 per person. For more information about Peluso, visit her website jessimae.com.

"Students should come because it is a free event for students and it's a great chance to see an up-and-coming comedian that is making the rounds and is quite popular and on a popular show," Shaver said. "Really I can't stress enough that it's free and it's just a great opportunity for them to get out and have some fun with some friends."