COLLEGE KIDS DRINK IN COMIC'S SOBERING ACT.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
``It's pretty bad when your blood-alcohol level is higher than your grade point average.'' - Comedian Bernie McGrenahan. The most important comedian in the country today locked the front door to his Sherman Oaks apartment late last week and headed out into the heartland again to save some young lives. Standing up on a stage making college kids laugh at 30 colleges in 35 days. Then taking the last 20 minutes of each show to make them stop and think. No one knows for sure how many young lives Bernie McGrenahan has saved on his ``Beware of the Binge'' comedy tour, but college officials who have invited him to their campuses for Alcohol Awareness Week activities say they know there have been many. ``Many college students participate in excessive, binge drinking binge drinking An early phase of chronic alcoholism, characterized by episodic 'flirtation' with the bottle by binges of drinking to the point of stupor, followed by periods of abstinence; BD is accompanied by alcoholic ketoacidosis–accelerated lipolysis and , and I know that Bernie reached a lot of them here,'' says Angie Vosters, ideas and issues coordinator at St. Norbert College History St. Norbert College was established when Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Dutch immigrant priest from the Premonstratensian abbey of Berne (Netherlands), founded the college to train young men for the priesthood. St. in DePere, Wis. ``They left his show realizing that they needed to change their drinking and party habits. They were engrossed en·gross tr.v. en·grossed, en·gross·ing, en·gross·es 1. To occupy exclusively; absorb: A great novel engrosses the reader. See Synonyms at monopolize. 2. by his strong and unforgettable message.'' Similar accolades come from colleges as small as North Central in Naperville, Ill., and Lakeland College There are several colleges named Lakeland College.
Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. . Bernie made their students laugh, officials say, and then he made them think. He didn't preach about alcohol abuse. He just told it like it is. Binge drinking is a killer. Alcohol is the No. 1 factor in homicides, suicides and traffic crashes involving those 16 to 25, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Center for Alcohol and Drug Prevention. It's involved in 80 percent of all date rapes date rape n. forcible sexual intercourse by a male acquaintance of a woman, during a voluntary social engagement in which the woman did not intend to submit to the sexual advances and resisted the acts by verbal refusals, denials or pleas to stop, and/or physical and 90 percent of all campus violence. More than 56 percent of all male students and 40 percent of all female students admit to binge drinking: five or more drinks for a man, four or more for a woman, at one sitting. Bernie gives them the numbers. Then he gives them something no other comedian in the country gives them: his own harrowing story. He was home cooking pasta the night the college kid died. Twenty-two shots of booze in 1 1/2 hours, the guy on the news was saying. His frat brothers poured him into bed, the worst thing they could have done. The kid never woke up. ``They showed the kid's picture on TV, and I saw my brother's face,'' Bernie said. ``Then, I saw my own.'' Even the alcohol-related death of his own younger brother Wiki is aware of the following uses of "'Younger Brother":
There were a few more wasted years with three arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol, six months in county jail and the tearful intervention of his family. Now, 11 years of sobriety later, Bernie's a popular comedian who has opened in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. for Rodney Dangerfield Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), born Jacob Cohen, was an American comedian and actor, best known for the catchphrase "I don't get no respect" and his monologues on that theme. , Mariah Carey, The Four Tops and Kenny Loggins. And he was home one night a couple of years ago cooking pasta when the news came on about a kid drinking himself to death at a frat party. ``I knew I had to get out there and talk to them,'' said Bernie, who hopes to enlarge his ``Beware of the Binge'' tour from 30 or 40 colleges a year to 150 by enlisting corporate sponsors. ``I knew the mind games these kids were playing because I played them myself,'' he said. ``I felt I could reach them through my comedy and my own story.'' It's all there in the last 20 minutes of his act - when the students aren't laughing anymore. When they're thinking about how it must feel to get in a fight with your kid brother one night, then go to a bar for a few drinks to cool down - only to return home a few hours later and find he put a shotgun to his chest and ended his life. ``Bernie captivated cap·ti·vate tr.v. cap·ti·vat·ed, cap·ti·vat·ing, cap·ti·vates 1. To attract and hold by charm, beauty, or excellence. See Synonyms at charm. 2. Archaic To capture. our students with his life experience involving binge drinking and its effects,'' said Lori Mommaerts, director of student activities at Lakeland College. ``He had them in tears from laughter, then from his own personal tragedy.'' Last week, it was time again for the most important comedian in the country to hit the road to reach 20,000 to 30,000 more college kids who think they can handle binge drinking. They can't, and Bernie McGrenahan is going to make them laugh until they cry to prove it. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Southland comedian Bernie McGrenahan is touring U.S. colleges with a show that keeps students laughing until they learn of alcohol-related tragedy. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion