“Let me tell you guys about my dream last night”, began comedian Chris Powell. “I dreamt I was lying in bed while something under the covers pleasured me.”

“Do who do I owe this pleasure I thought,” said the Detroit native with a laugh.

“I lift the covers, and I look below my waste, only to see a big ass mosquito just lying there sucking my d***.”

After the audience shared a laugh Powell became thoughtful and said, “What does this mean?”

This was the sort of humor that arose from the depths of the Memorial Union, in the Maintenance Shop. Chris Powell certainly isn’t  a big name in the comedic community, but Powell or “CP” as he’s known, acted like one. He was comfortable on stage and wasn’t afraid to call out elephants in the room.

Powell’s humor utilizes crass phrases with provocative meaning. After a lengthy discussion about the women’s reproductive system and using words that would certainly deserve soap in the mouth for a younger man, Powell noticed an older couple that sat in the front row during the performance.

“I’m sorry and scared as hell to talk about this in front of you two”, he said as he singled out the couple. “I mean, damn. Talk about an elephant in the room. It is looking like a Christian Mingle date down here.”

Powell’s humor is derived from his experiences growing up in Detroit and attending the boys and girls club, which he compares to his current life being African American and living in Los Angeles. He also drew humor heavily from observing history, as a good chunk of his set was his rant on how he felt the tale of Harriet Tubman went.

“The slave master had sex with every other slave, but Harriet was Harriet, she had that deep Harriet voice, and she wasn’t getting anything from the slave master,” Powell joked. “Finally, Harriet made herself a burlap sack bra and panties set, and tried to enchant him. When the slave master saw what Harriet was working with, he said ‘Uh Harriet, how about if we let you go, we will give you two years head start no dogs’.

“And that’s how she got free, few people know that”, remarked Powell.

He also talked on human nature, and how there’s “no options” when it comes to heaven or hell.

“I feel like people have grown away from what makes us human,” Powell said. “I have eaten so much chicken in my life, but have I killed any of it? No! It is in us all to kill, we need to kill I think, it makes us feel alive.”

As his nearly one hour set ended with a humorous story about his recent breakup and how he found out because a roach talked with him about his girl cheating on him, he thanked the Maintenance Shop for hosting him and said he felt “like a Rockstar” on the stage.

He kept the audience engaged and amused for the entirety of his set, and I applaud the way he kept a straight face during his hypothetical situations. He is a comedian certainly on the rise, and rightfully so.

“You guys are dope Iowa State, keep it real,” he said.