A Night Of Laughs In New Sarepta

by Lorna Lowe

Friday, March 08, 2013

On Saturday March 2nd, despite the snow storm that blew in and pounded Leduc County that evening, the New Sarepta Agriplex was packed with people looking for a good time, and they certainly found it that night! You could hear the laughter from outside the building as two comedians from the Comedy Factory took to the stage in front of a packed house.
   The New Sarepta Agricultural Society, excited about receiving the go-ahead from Leduc County for their expansion of the Agriplex, quickly put together their first fundraiser for the project. The two hundred tickets that were available were snapped up so fast that people were being turned away at the door because they couldn't get their hands on them prior to the event so they tried to get in at the last minute by purchasing a ticket when they arrived. Sadly for them there were no extra seats available, as it was a full to bursting room full of friends and neighbours ready to have a great time!
   The evening started out well with a fabulous buffet dinner of roast beef, gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, buns, veggies and numerous salads to choose from. No one had to be shy about the food and heaping plates were being whisked away and demolished at the row upon row of tables set up in the banquet hall. Drinks flowed, 50/50 tickets were being sold by the dozen, and all the table talk and laughter was almost deafening in the low ceilinged room. A selection of scrumptious home made desserts briefly quieted the crowd at the end of the meal, only to have the volume increase once again as brave volunteers from the New Sarepta Ag Society began table side service with adult beverages for those who wanted them.
   The over 18 crowd that packed the building was a fairly even mix of ages, from the just-turned-legal crowd looking to party on a Saturday night, to a good number of regular working folk which were probably some of the parents of the afore-mentioned younger set, to a large contingent of older folk who, at points during the evening, could be just as rowdy as their younger counterparts! Leduc County Mayor John Whaley and County Counsellor for Division 1, Jocelyn Mackay, were also present and seen to be enjoying themselves immensely this night while supporting the project.
   Both comedians that were set to entertain the crowd this evening hailed from the Comedy Factory in Edmonton and were true craftsmen of their chosen art. The first one to take the stage was a well known professional by the name of Bob Angeli. Bob set the tone for the evening by picking on several members of the audience continuously throughout his performance, much to the delight of most of the crowd who knew these gentlemen. There were a lot of pot shots taken at the fact that New Sarepta was such a small community and that Bob was "thrilled" to see how his career had taken him to such new and exotic locales. He began by asking the crowd "Do you know what happens when you Google New Sarepta? You get a question mark!"
   Everyone was up for the good natured teasing of their community and a couple members of the audience gave as good as they got and actually had the crowd doubled over in laughter at their responses to some of Bob's jokes. At one point, Bob was setting up the punch line of a risqué story joke and asked the crowd "So ladies, what does your man really want when he stumbles in, drunk as a skunk, at 5 or 6 in the morning?" Whereupon, a very quick witted young man in the audience shouted out "A sandwich!" Which not only had the audience howling with laughter but actually stopped Bob in his tracks, and had him wander over to the side of the stage where he grabbed a pen and paper to write it down. Bob pointed at the young man and laughingly said "You son-of-a.....! I play Millet tomorrow night and I'm gonna use that!!!"
   Overall, a fantastic night was had by all, and even though there was no final tally available by press time on the amount raised that night, it was obvious that the first fundraiser put on by this motivated society was a smashing success.

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