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The bits from Connor Wood’s online stand-up clips that make Summer Marcus laugh the most are when audience members bring up parts of their lives while interacting with Wood.

Marcus, a SUNY ESF sophomore, and her friend Ella Goggan got to experience that firsthand during Wood’s set as they both said they want to teach kids post-graduation.

“I don’t know anything about kindergarteners, thankfully,” Wood said during his set.

On Monday night, Connor Wood headlined University Union’s fall performing arts show: A Night with Connor Wood at Syracuse University’s Goldstein Auditorium. Wood, co-host of “Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast,” is currently on the last leg of his first-ever “Fibs & Friends” tour.

SU alum Mary Shalaby and Chicago-based comedian Maggie Winters opened the night with jokes about working at Subway in college or being part of different on-campus clubs. All three personalities shared memories from their own college experiences and lives post-graduation.

Even during the last week of classes for the semester, Goldstein Auditorium was packed with fibula fans and recent followers.

In an interview with The Daily Orange, Wood said he enjoys talking with college students during shows like these.

“The energy is always really high, I think college students are more prone to having fun,” Wood said.

Doing comedy on stage in front of a live audience is something Wood said comes naturally to him — it’s the same jokes he makes online, just in longer form. Personal anecdotes are always something that land and do well, Wood said.

Marcus and Goggan said they didn’t know what to expect with Wood’s stand-up acts, but that’s something they were looking forward to, along with the crowd interaction they ended up experiencing themselves.

“I kind of like it because I feel like you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into,” Marcus said.

The duo wore matching shirts they made in MakerSpace the day before the show that said “addicted to this young man.”

Shalaby, who graduated from SU in 2024, opened the night by walking out in a cap and gown with the “graduation speech that (she) never got to give” prepped and ready on a music stand.

While adjusting the mic and clearing her throat, Shalaby said her four years at SU flew by quickly, and she reflects on her college memories often.

She made sure to pay tribute to all the groups, people and experiences that made her time at SU so special.

Shalaby’s many thank yous extended to sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, where she said it was an honor and a privilege to “lower the house’s collective GPA” while she was a member, and to Chancellor Kent Syverud, because he gave her an enemy.

“At first I was angry, but then I realized that it’s probably really embarrassing to have a little pipsqueak like me absolutely dunk on your sh*t,” Shalaby joked during her set.

The most memorable part of Shalaby’s time at SU? When she was walking in Thornden Park in September 2022 and found “the most beautiful creature in my entire life,” aka her black pitbull she named Cowbell.

While at SU, Shalaby did improv for Zamboni Revolution, and also performed stand-up for The Playground. Now living in Brooklyn with two friends she met through Zamboni, Shalaby said they help her feel comfortable pursuing comedy as a career.

It was a full-circle moment for Shalaby to be back on campus doing comedy, but also intimidating since the pressure was on to not let down her SU community, she told The D.O.

“Here, I experienced my most epic highs and lows, from buying my first Zyn’s to taking a dookie on Kent’s front lawn,” Shalaby said.

Mary Shalaby, a Syracuse University alum, returned to her alma mater on Monday night to open UU’s show with Connor Wood. Shalaby walked out in a literal cap and gown, delivering a mock graduation speech. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer

When Shalaby isn’t doing stand-up, she told the crowd that she plays games on her iPad in the bathroom and live tweets on LinkedIn. Shalaby also joked that it was SU’s fault that J.Crew was the only place she could get hired after graduation.

Following Shalaby’s set, Maggie Winters also hit on her life with a non-traditional job. When she’s not doing stand-up on tour, Winters lives at home with her parents. She was intrigued by the many majors SU students study, including forensic science.

“You could work in a lab and do blood?” Winters said.

While Winters didn’t attend SU, she recounted her own anecdotes from attending college “about 5,000 years ago.” She stayed at an in-state school at home in Illinois, and worked at a Subway where her boss smoked weed in the freezer and a customer rapped the same sandwich order to her once a week. Sometimes, Winters would even rap back to them, she told the crowd.

Wood, known for his “luckily I have purse” bit with Kelsey Kreppel, started off the night by taking in the large crowd and the Connor Wood hats they donned. While Wood didn’t wear one of the classic caps from his extensive hat collection, he admitted he’s been soft-launching his forehead lately.

“I’m dressed like I’m on ‘High School Musical’ the musical, the musical, the musical,” Wood said at the start of his set.

If fans listen to the podcast Wood co-hosts with influencer Brooke Averick, there’s nothing people don’t know about his life, he said to The D.O.

When Marcus and Goggan were freshmen-year roommates, Marcus convinced Goggan to start watching the podcast, and she was easily hooked. The two love when Wood dresses up as things like Averick’s cat on the podcast. The pair said since listening to the podcast, they’ve now adapted Wood and Averick’s vernacular into the way they talk.

During the set, Wood discussed life on tour. He said his 97-year-old grandma who never stops watching the news warns him of supposed riots when he visits various American cities, and joked that it was a pinch-me moment to tour at Schine Student Center. He also said he gets many Instagram DMs pointing out that he looks like a lesbian.

He shared relatable anecdotes about smoking weed with friends and taking anxiety medication to ease his fears of flying. Wood even found out that a student in the crowd is on the same medication as him.

“For me weed is kind of like Chipotle,” Wood said in his set. “You get Chipotle and then 10 minutes later you’re praying, sweating, screaming, and then six weeks later you’re like, ‘Chipotle sounds good.’”

Wood interacted with the crowd by asking students their majors and what they want to do when they grow up. After discovering that many are interested in communications, including entertainment, he wished them good luck.

Wood went to The University of Texas at Austin for advertising and pivoted to comedy during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had some words of wisdom for SU students who may feel unsure about what they want to do post-grad.

“Nothing’s the end goal, it’s just all stepping stones,” Wood said to The D.O. “So everything that feels like the end is just another door open.”

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Published on December 9, 2025 at 2:29 am
Contact Mia: mjones58@syr.edu