“It’s hard for me to believe you all came to see me,” comedian Dan Gill said to the M-shop audience. 

The way Dan Gill opened his performance on Friday night set the stage for his self-depreciating but relatable humor.

At the start of the show, Gill took a risk by puling an Iowa hat out of his pocket and announcing that he went to University of Iowa. Surprisingly, there were several members of the audience who cheered in support of our rival college. 

Despite attending Iowa, Gill says he dropped out. He wanted the audience to make sure they understood that he did not fail out, however. He claimed to only have failed one class.

“I failed statistics three times,” Gill said. “What are the odds?”

Gill declared that he knew what the audience was thinking when he took the stage. He said that they immediately pegged him as a guy who liked scavenger hunts. He did not deny this.

“I don’t know why I like scavenger hunts. There’s just something about killing a homeless man,” Gill joked. 

Gill’s humor lightened back up temporarily as he expressed his love for “puffy khaki butts” before his humor took a darker turn again as he talked about his and his father’s drinking problems.

He joked that Chipotle is the best place to get drunk because you can just keep walking up to the counter and buying more beer.

A response from an audience member caused him to inquire if that was his dad sitting in the back.

He answered his own question with, “I know my dad’s not here because I asked him to come.”

Gill talked about how he did not know what he wanted to do for a large part of his life. At one point he claims to have aspired to be a sculptor but it never worked out.

“I was trying to make this statue with arms but it was a total bust,” Gill said.

He also contemplated the darkness of the background story of a beloved Disney character. He found the tragic story of the death of Goofy’s wife a little bit too morbid for children.

He then paused, looked to the audience, and said,”You guys ever wonder if your mortician has been born yet?”

He urged the audience to give that thought a “solid think.”

Gill closed the show with some self-depreciating humor on his own performance.

“I should get out of here on something funny, but why start now?” Gill said. 

Overall Gill’s comedy performance was well received and greatly enjoyed by the M-Shop audience.