Comedian Jen Kober to perform Southern style comedy at Indiana University Kokomo
Small-town comedian Jen Kober will bring her Southern style comedy to the Indiana University Kokomo campus on Jan. 28. Her show, described as an original blend of stand-up, story telling and improvised rock 'n' roll comedy, will begin at 7 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium and is free to the public.
Raised in a small Louisiana town, Kober has been performing since she was 16. It is from her Southern upbringing and values that Kober draws her material -- as well as a love for food.
"I always wanted to be a rock 'n' roll singer," the full-size Kober confesses on her Web site. "But God made me fat so I'd be a comedienne."
In recent years, Kober has bounded onto the national stage, bringing crowds to their feet. Classically trained at The Theatre School of DePaul University in Chicago, Kober is also an accomplished actress. Kober's original one-woman show sUbcIty was the winner of The Director's Choice Award at The Kennedy Center Theatre Festival.
Kober has studied improv at both Second City and Improv Olympic, and she has toured successfully with her improvised one-woman shows, Junk in My Trunk and My Big Fat Comedy Show. In the past few years, Kober has been featured in several competitions, including winning the 2003 Houston Comedy Games in both stand-up and sketch comedy, as well as the 30th Annual San Francisco International Comedy Competition. She was also a finalist in the MySpace "Stand Up or Sit Down" competition, which was broadcast on both TBS and HBO in 2006.
In 2008, Kober appeared in Jamie Kennedy's comedy documentary Heckler, and was featured on the Oxygen channel's "25iest Celebrity Bad Girls Gone Good." Last year, she headlined at more than 180 colleges across the country. This year, Kober will appear on NESN's "Comedy All Stars" in April, and her Delicious Tour will play at colleges and comedy clubs throughout the year.
Kober has been praised for her hard-hitting humor. Leslie Berman of The SWLA Times writes, "Kober is one of the most talented comics of our time. I have been betting on her to find her niche and go national since the first time I saw her. I thought: 'She's got to be our 21st Century Lucille Ball,' and that's no exaggeration. If you're 20 years younger than me, think hipper Tracey Ullman."
This event is sponsored by the Student Union Board. People without campus parking permits should follow signs to visitor parking.
Indiana University Kokomo serves a seven-county, primary service area in north central Indiana. The campus offers more than 40 academic programs including four graduate degrees. For more information, visit http://www.iuk.edu.
