Emmy-winning Comic Greg Fitzsimmons Returns to Alma Mater

After winning four Emmys, comedian Greg Fitzsimmons still writes his stand-up bits like English essays he wrote when he attended Boston University.

“The structure of an essay is very similar to a stand-up bit,” he said. “You present an original thesis, give examples, you use transitions and your summary paragraph at the end is like the end of the bit.”

Fitzsimmons’s “essay” Friday night explored the controversies of family values, religion and abortion — and the 250 students who saw him and BU’s funniest student Steve Macone at the George Sherman Union’s BU Central laughed the whole night.

“For me, it was a really big deal to come back here and tell jokes where I literally started doing comedy,” Fitzsimmons said after the performance, his first return to BU to perform for students. “It was funny to think back on how I spent my four years at BU when I didn’t think I was a standout, necessarily.”

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In honor of the edgy comedian’s career, which includes appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” VH1’s “Best Week Ever” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” the College of General Studies recently presented Fitzsimmons with its Distinguished Alumni Award, making him the youngest recipient in the college’s history.

“It was a total shock to get something like that,” he said. “Part of me feels like, ‘Wow, how old am I to get lifetime achievement awards?’”

A CGS and College of Arts and Sciences 1989 graduate, Fitzsimmons began performing comedy at BU when he was part of comedy troupe Uncontrolled Substance, and his first performance was also in the GSU.

Read the full story at Daily Free Press.