Wanda Sykes, an American comedian most famous for her role
in the HBO hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, performed Feb. 1 at Pomona College’s Bridges Auditorium in front of an
audience of Claremont Colleges students and Claremont community members.
Keith Robinson opened for Sykes, warning the crowd not to be “too damn sensitive” and that “you’re going to hear some shit tonight.”
Jokes on race, drugs, and age found that the Claremont audience was indeed quite sensitive, however, and Robinson struggled to induce laughter.
Sykes, on the other hand, often had the audience in tears, like when she explained that being a college student is not for receiving an
education but rather for proof that “you can be by yourself and not die.”
Later in the performance, Sykes explained her feminist ideology
when she joked that women should not be paid as much as men, but rather more than them, since women have so many more expenses, such as clothes and makeup.
Sykes encouraged the audience to protest against the
political system that allows families like the the Waltons, the owners of
Walmart, who spend only two percent of their wealth on philanthropy, to continue
exploiting workers.