This article contains adult content, and viewer discretion is advised.
Malia Mundy is a journalism junior and a satire columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
When an ASI photographer followed him to grab a shot, comedian Morgan Jay turned around and started chasing him through rows of people, leading to a massive eruption of laughter from the audience.
Twerking, stealing shoes and preying on audience members is part of his je ne sais quoi.
On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Jay performed at the Performing Arts Center, and he gave me the laugh I needed while gearing up for winter quarter. In the first five minutes of his performance, Jay walked into the audience with his cameraman and autotuned microphone, a staple of his performance students may know from viral TikTok or Instagram videos.
Based out of Los Angeles, Jay combines music and comedy, creating a show based on “imperfection, authenticity, relatability, shared experience, and connection,” according to his website. He has over 5.4 million followers on Instagram and released a comedy special, Live at the Village, in 2023 on Hulu.
“I’m that guy on TikTok your girlfriend watches before bed at night,” Jay teased.
I was impressed with how comfortable and confident Jay appeared, sprinting through rows with quick-witted remarks about guests. He approached audience members at random, poking fun at their clothes or the way people were sitting.
“Are you even excited to be here, bro?” Jay said to an audience member who sat with crossed arms.
He made a theatre with a 2,000 seat capacity feel intimate and casual.
The level of audience interaction for the first half of the show got the crowd energized. Jay fed the Cal Poly audience what he’s most well known for: funny autotuned mini-interviews. When he asked for volunteers to join him on stage, screams ripped through the crowd and people jumped out of their seats, hoping to be chosen.
The transition from his autotuned microphone to a more traditional stand-up set felt slightly awkward, as most audience members had only seen his crowd work clips. But his stand-up held up, especially when he brought up “Girly Booktok.”
He went on to dissect the viral trend of “fairy smut,” reading aloud an explicit passage from A Court of Thorns and Roses. He prefaced this by telling the crowd it was going to be R-rated.
The enthusiastic response from the crowd seemed to surprise Jay. “More perverts at this school than I thought,” he said.
My feelings of awkwardness listening to an in-depth sex scene between two characters were cut by Jay’s joking around about a male version of “fairy smut”, which he coined as “A Court of Busted Nuts.” His raunchy angle made the crowd awkwardly giggle.
One of my favorite parts of the show was Jay’s “What I wish I said.” Before the show, he asked people on his Instagram story to respond with what they wish they had said to an ex. He blended serious and funny responses while strumming his guitar. It wasn’t the highest level of poetry, with rhymes like “I wish you were dead” and “you gave terrible head,” but I found myself laughing.
I appreciated how there were multiple parts of Jay’s show. He bounced from autotune pranks and stand-up to strumming his guitar and reading slam poetry about his sex life.
His dynamic talent shone through his set as I realized all in one show he had essentially played guitar, performed stand-up, read poetry and sang original songs alongside a live pianist. I was shocked to find out he was 38, as he connected so well with a Gen Z audience.
I thoroughly enjoyed Morgan Jay’s performance, and I wasn’t the only one. I overheard students saying things like “we should have arrived early” and “you did well on the spot.” Jays’ improvisations gave Cal Poly students a one-of-a-kind performance that will never be replicated.
He continues a strong streak of ASI performers selling out the PAC, and he definitely deserved the fanfare.