All-Write Comedian did not please crowd

Steve Leftridge, All Write Coordinator, introduces performers during seventh hour in Knight Auditorium. Photo by Trinity Madison

This year’s All Write Festival took place with roughly 45 speakers, ranging from authors to comedians. However, this year’s comedian, David Graham, received negative feedback from both students and staff.

Cleancomedyguy.com said, “David Graham, a six-foot-six teddy bear, will take any event to the next level. David is a clean comedian who hits those hard-to-reach areas of the comedic nervous system.”

Graham is broadcast across his own website as a clean comedian, one who performs for all ages and does recurring church performances.

However, some students found the comedian to be a bit inappropriate.

Senior Olivia Bickford said, “It started off as witty jokes, and then it kind of turned into something inappropriate. He joked about there being a lot of ‘fine women’ at Webster, which made me uncomfortable because he was significantly older than us. He also decided to pick on me, which was fine…until things got weird.”

Some of Graham’s jokes were considered crude by some students. A few of the jokes made suggested sexual innuendos and references to the audience. One joke that offended some, was when Graham made a joke that referenced there being a snake in his hand but when he woke up, he realized he was just naked.

Senior Tyler Benbow said, “I thought he was disrespectful and degrading to women and made everyone uncomfortable. It isn’t what our school stands for.”

All Write staff did not expect this and pulled Graham off stage about 15 minutes early.

Bickford added, “ I don’t blame the school though. They had no idea that he was going to do that. He got pulled off the stage early, which was good, but I think it left a lot of people uncomfortable, including myself. After the assembly, a lot of people were checking on me to make sure I was okay, which I appreciated. I’m alright now, but I’m disappointed that the comedian felt like he had to degrade women and make crude jokes to get people to laugh.”