Showtime for McGee

By Samuel Mattei

Brian McGee will never forget the time he met Carlos Alazraqui and Cedrec Yarbrough from Comedy Central’s Reno 911 show.

“I was with them backstage and they asked who I was,” McGee recalls. “I told them my nickname that I have gone by for the last 10 years now, which is Goo. They looked at me and started laughing. When they went on stage to perform their act they started with” “'Lets have a big round of applause for Goo'.”

When the lights go down and the music starts up, the performers take the stage in front of a crowd of two thousand plus people. For the next three hours people will forget their worries and enjoy the show.

What they don’t see is the work. He does the work that goes on before and after the performance. At East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania the Campus Activity Board makes the decisions.

The process starts out with figuring out who the East Stroudsburg students want. Will they want to see music or comedy. What genre? Anyone specific? Next board members like McGee attempt to book the desired artist. The board members must then figure out their budget, tickets sales and stage setup.

Brian McGee entered East Stroudsburg University in the Fall of 2006 to major in exercise science. To make his resume look better, he volunteered for the CAB, he says.

McGee’s first job is to figure out the budget. He must make a list of prices that include how much money it will cost to set up the stage, advertise and to have anything the performer may request during the day of the performance. “The budget the school is willing to give the CAB per semester is now what you would call huge,” McGee says. “Sometimes we can only get enough money for two performers at a time.”

Once an artist is booked, McGee must start the advertising process. To sell tickets he sets up a team of students to hang flyers in stores around the campus and at the local high school. The shows prohibit the use of alcohol, so this opens up ticket sales to students of any age.

Since the shows are all indoors they start building the stage inside the gym. The stage alone takes a full day to bring in and put together. Everything that the school has inside of the gym must be taken away. The stage is a 30’ by 20’ foot pieced together wooden stage. McGee and his crew must help to move in the lights, instruments and stereo equipment.

“The acts we have are great,” McGee says. “It’s so much fun when we meet these people and their always so genuine to everyone helping to run the show.” Since he has started the his volunteer work in the CAB he has met members of bands such as Lifehouse, Clutch, Emerson Drive and O.A.R.

“The music shows are great, McGee says. “But what I really enjoy are the comedy performers. Along with Carlos Alazraqui and Cedric Yarbrough, Goo has also met Jim Breuer and Dave Coulier from Full House.

“The only downside besides the stage setup is when some of these bands come here who are used to stadium accommodations,” McGee says. “Lifehouse came here in 2006. It was my first semester doing this job and they had some big hit on the radio. Here come these famous rock stars who expect to be catered to the entire day. I was sent to the Acme five times in one day and twice to the local wine shop. They were not my favorite performers.”

“All of the work comes down to the night of the performance,” McGee says. When things fall apart it’s a complete disaster,” he adds.

At the end of the night some performers will stay and sign autographs. Whether or not they decide to is up to them. McGee and his team must work with whatever instructions they are given.

Usually McGee won’t return to his dorm until three or four in the morning. “After the show is over we have to clean the gym,” says McGee. “We hope that we get home before the sun comes up.”