Chloé Hilliard delivers laughs at CAB show

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ADRIANA MIENE

Students pose with comedian Chloé Hilliard, who performed at a CAB-sponsored event in the Maucker Union on Thursday evening.

ADRIANA MIENE, Staff Writer

Comedian Chloé Hilliard performed at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27 in the central ballroom of Maucker Union.

The event was organized by UNI’s Campus Activities Board (CAB).

According to CAB member Isaiah Finan, CAB booked Hilliard — self-described as a six-foot-one-inch tall comedian with a signature afro and an even bigger personality — in April of last year.

Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Hilliard’s roots in the big city as well as her experiences growing up in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood provided material for her show.

The performance was a mix of Hilliard interacting with the crowd and sharing her life experiences as a woman of color. One running joke throughout the evening focused on the outdated idea of baking a cake from scratch in order to find a man with whom to settle down.

As a comedian, Hilliard travels frequently. A section of her show addressed her experiences in airports and new towns. She had the crowd laughing with quips about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and jokes on returning to New York and feeling like it’s the boyfriend you want to leave, but just can’t quite bring yourself to.

Hilliard hasn’t always been a comedian. According to her website, she started her career as a culture and entertainments journalist and has written for “The Village Voice,” “Essence,” “Vibe,” “King” and “The Source.” Hilliard has also appeared on CNN Headline News, ABC News, Our World with Black Enterprise and C-SPAN, later making her national TV debut on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” Since then, Hilliard has appeared on AXSTV’s “Gotham Comedy Live,” Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show,” Tru TV’s “Almost Genius” and MTV’s “Acting Out.”

“I wanted to go into broadcast journalism,” Hilliard said. “I was a journalist for many years and then I decided I wanted to transition into television, so I took a stand-up writing class.”

According to Hilliard, she wanted to use her skills from the class to enhance her lifestyle reporting with quick-witted responses.

Hilliard later said that she fell in love with stand-up after she performed at the end of her six-week course, and she has been doing comedy for the past eight years. However, she didn’t start performing regularly right away.

“It took about three and a half years [before I started touring],” Hilliard said.

Throughout the past five years of touring, Hilliard has been to Iowa several times. She uses the Nebraska-Iowa rivalry as ammunition in her show whenever she is in either state.