‘Saturday Night Live’ comedian performs free show

“Saturday Night Live” actor Kenan Thompson performs free Thursday at the UIC Forum.

By Humaa Siddiqi

Expect a lot of “lol-ing” at the UIC Forum Thursday night.

“LOL @ UIC,” the first installment of an annual comedy series, is causing a lot of buzz in the UIC community.

The free event will feature actor and comedian Kenan Thompson. Many students know him from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and Nickelodeon’s “All That” and “Kenan and Kel.”

Thompson is set to hit the stage at 7 p.m.; doors open at 6 p.m. Admission with i-card only.

More than 400 have shown interest in attending on Campus Programs’ Facebook page.

“Kenan Thompson is hugely popular on college campuses right now — he’s booking dates all over the country,” said Carrie Grogan, associate director of programming in Campus Programs. “A survey was sent out to students in the fall to ask for input and he was the most popular choice on the survey.”

Campus Programs wanted to organize an event similar to last year’s successful “Spark in the Park” and UIC Fashion Show, Grogan said.

“Don’t you want to say you were at the very first LOL @ UIC?” she said.

“Plus the first 250 people at the door will get a free pair of ‘LOL @ UIC’ touchscreen gloves.”

Need a ride to the event? A special shuttle to the UIC Forum will pick students up beginning at 6:20 p.m. from Student Center West. It will make stops at the UIC Pavilion and Student Center East before stopping at the Forum. The shuttle route repeats every 20 minutes and runs until an hour after the event ends.

Fun fact: The name “LOL @ UIC” was suggested by two students who took a fall Campus Programs survey.

Participating in campus surveys gives students a voice in programming,  Grogan said.

“We need student input to help select who comes to campus,” she said.

hsiddi25@uic.edu

• Humaa Siddiqi is a freshman in political science.