ACE announces next Big Show

Maddie Driggers, Assistant Lifestyles Editor

The Association for Campus Entertainment (ACE) is adding another Big Show to their lineup by bringing a comedian to campus in April. ACE announced today that they would be bringing Steve Glover, better known in the entertainment industry as Steve-O, to UNCW on April 11.

Steve-O is an actor and comedian best known for his reality television show and later movie series “Jackass.” The franchise centers around Steve-O and his comrades participating in funny, entertaining, but sometimes threatening and hazardous stunts for the audience’s enjoyment.

ACE’s president, Lauren Arsena, says after the success of the Jesse McCartney concert back in September, the organization was excited to bring another show to campus.

“When we realized Jesse wouldn’t take up our entire budget for the Big Show, we knew we wanted to bring another performer,” Arsena said. “Having a comedian for a spring show just made sense.”

In the past, ACE has announced their Big Show at their other events, such as a Teal Tuesday or during their weekly films. However, for Steve-O, the group decided to do the reveal solely on ACE’s social media platforms. For a week before the reveal, ACE posted the number of days until the reveal everyday on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and encouraged their members to participate as well. Arsena says the organization found it to be a fun and different way to get the student body’s attention.

“Even ACE members didn’t even know what it was for,” she said. “I heard many students asking about it and the anticipation built up more and more, which was our goal with this method. It was like a fun game we were playing with the campus and I think it was a success.”

Steve-O has a reputation in the entertainment business and mainstream media for being eccentric and unpredictable. Some of his most well-known antics include getting various and, in his words, “dumb” tattoos such as a portrait of his own face on his back. Arsena says she thinks he will be a great fit to bring to a college community, both for his shocking and entertaining behavior and the nostalgic aspect he brings from the early 2000s.

“Steve-O was on the list of comedians from a survey ACE sent out back in the summer and we got a good response for him,” she said. “We wanted to be able to cater towards a different crowd than Jesse was tailored to and Steve-O ended up being a perfect fit.”

Tickets for the Steve-O Big Show be available in Sharky’s on April 2 and the event is free for everyone.