Homecoming week often brings some of the biggest attractions all year to campus, and this year is no exception. On Tuesday, the Main Campus Programming Board (MCPB) brought Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘n Out Tour to Temple University. Wild ‘n Out is a successful show on MTV and MTV2 on its 8th season and spanning 11 years that was created and hosted by Nick Cannon. It is a comedy freestyle show with several improv comics on opposite teams competing to get their captain the comedy championship belt. Notable celebrity guests over the years have been Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz, and Kevin Hart. The Wild ‘n Out Tour is ongoing to promote season 8 of the show now on MTV. The Temple Performing Arts Center (TPAC) was the latest stop.
For the 8-10 show, doors opened at 7; however, the people who showed up around that time were left outside as the TPAC reached capacity. I arrived at about 6:05 to a line spanning from the first of 2 available doors at Pollet Walk all the way back to Wachman Hall, a distance of about 100 feet. Though at this point, it was unclear that there was a second line and I was able to get to the front of that one. By the time 6:30 rolled around, the line behind me grew into Pollet Walk and I could only assume further, as my vision was limited to my surrounding area for the fact that the sheer number of people in line left space to breathe, let alone move, at a premium. When the doors opened, it was a struggle to make it up the steps with the amount of students clamoring and rushing to get a good seat. I was able to get in, get my homecoming shirt, courtesy of MCPB, and get a seat dead center next to the sound board.
About a half hour later, the show began with Temple University showcasing its abundance of talent. InMotion Dance Group performed to a rousing applause as the first act. An all female dance crew, they rocked the crowd with their hip-hop stylings. Following their hip-shaking, two of Temple’s vocal talents took the stage and blew the crowd away. First, viral sensation Nala took the crowd on a blissful journey with her hit song. Secondly, a student rapper hyped up the TPAC and reengergized the audience to get the place ready for the last student group to perform. Dare To Dance, or D2D is a popular co-ed dance crew on campus that has won several competitions in Philadelphia, and used that skill in all its glory on the stage in front of a full TPAC. All the group’s experience was needed when there was a technical malfunction and the music cut out. However, instead of putting their palms up in frustration, the dancers kept shaking and moving, finishing out the rest of their choreographed routine to the sound of a clapped beat from the audience. With that stunning display, the old church shook with the rousing ovation given. With that, the stage was set for Nick Cannon.
First of the advertised group the take the stage was the turntable master of Wild ‘n Out, DJ D-Wrek. Dishing out a 5 song selection, D-Wrek got the crowd ready for the emcee, then finally introduced the creator of the content himself, Nick Cannon. Setting the tone for the evening, Cannon went into a stand-up act, and performed well, playing off the diverse crowd representative of the population at Temple. He poked jokes at himself, the crowd, and Philadelphia itself before handing the microphone off to a cast member of the titular show. This progression went on for about another hour, with 5 Wild ‘n Out cast members each taking just over 10 minutes. Comedians included Matt Rife, DC Young Fly, Chico Bean, Rip Michaels, and, Karlous Miller. Each comic provided a different brand of humor and each got waves of chuckles, laughter, and outright shrieking. However, the best part of the show were the 2 perennial “Wild ‘n Out games” that were played at the end of the show for the last 20 minutes. For this portion, the whole cast of the tour made their way onto the stage, and Nick Cannon invited anybody in the crowd who wished to join them, to leave their seats and do so. The ensuing pandemonium resulted in about 50 people on stage and that many and more packed into the space between the front row and stage. With great banter passed from cast to crowd and disses dished out both ways from ametuer to pro, the mirth in the room was palpable. As the night reached its end, Nick Cannon thanked those around him, and those above him in the top tier of the TPAC, and in classic Wild ‘n Out fashion, handed the mic to the musical performer of the night, Hitman Holla. With the cast accepting phones to be featured on students’ snapchats, and merchandise being handed out to everybody willing to stick around, it can be said the night was filled with wild hilarity and everybody had something for the way out.
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