The upper room of the Ore Dock Brewing Co. filled patrons looking for humor during Breakwall Comedy Night on Tuesday evening, and based on their laughs they weren’t disappointed.

Breakwall Comedy hosts stand-up comedy shows, predominantly at the Ore Dock, but sometimes other places around the U.P. too. It is a fairly new organization that wants to spread humor to stressed out students, and anyone who needs some laughter in their lives.

Vincent Schultz was the host for the evening, and he also books the acts for Breakwall Comedy. Breakwall Comedy puts on several comedy nights during the year, but stand-up comedy is still relatively new in Marquette, Schultz said.
“The comedy nights have been going very well,” Shultz said. “Marquette is a great place to introduce something new like stand-up comedy.”

Schultz emphasized the importance of comedy and the positive impact it has on people.

“Comedy is a way of detaching those people from the day they’re having and allow them to enjoy themselves,” he said. “It’s a chance to brighten someone’s day or heighten their sense of high spirits.”

For Tuesday’s show, the evening began with a packed Ore Dock at the 7 p.m.. Two local comedians, Bryan Hampton and Devon Grice, did short 15-minute sets. Originally, Andy Beningo was the headlining comic alongside Chris Young, but Beningo called and canceled due to being sick. Luckily, Breakwall Comedy was able to bring in a last-minute replacement comedian from Green Bay, Sean Patrick Moore.

Moore had many different bits ranging from how he tries to help his 8-year-old son with his increasingly difficult math homework, to pot, to making a Parkinson’s joke. Moore earned a few nervous laughs from the crowd with his raunchy material.

In the middle of his set, Moore called out a woman in the front row for being on her phone, which turned into a small sort of argument that ended with applause and cheering for Moore. He stayed in his groove despite the minor hiccup and was seamlessly back on track moments after.

Christopher Young, a former Northern Michigan student, was next to perform. Young won the Detroit comic competition “That’s Funny” among many other achievements. This showed in his relaxed delivery and comfortable tone on stage.

Young had a cleaner set than his predecessors did, but it wasn’t completely wholesome. He covered parenting, and recalled stories of his college self carrying kegs up Sugarloaf. His jokes were fresh and relevant to the Marquette area, which added a connection of relatability between him and the crowd.

This was the last show of the winter season that Breakwall Comedy plans to put on, with a possibility of one this summer.