Jeff Kreisler, Sean Krespo and Scott Blakeman got plenty of laughs and lots of applause as they threw off scorching wisecracks and put-downs against, well, every facet of the conservative movement you could think of.

Their performance on Wednesday, “Comedy Against Evil,” was sponsored by the College Democrats as a part of Welcome Back Week.

After introducing himself as the “seductively plump” lovechild of George Clooney and John Belushi, Kreisler enlightened his audience on how he became a stand-up comic.

“Before comedy I went to Princeton,” he said. “Then I went to law school; then I took psychedelic mushrooms; then I fought a dragon – and here we are … Or are we?”

Indeed, no subject was too risqu?e for these performers; everything from sex, drugs, war, political debacles and the sexual orientation of Karl Rove were part of their satiric repartee.

The College Democrats hoped that mixing humor and politics would spur students’ interest in the political arena.

“I think nowadays satire has the power to enthuse students with political fervor and inspire them to take action against political events or situations that they may otherwise feel helpless about,” senior College Democrats President Liz Pavle said.

“So often students at Colgate are turned off by what they assume will be a ‘boring lecture.’ If we can motivate students to make it to our events in the first place, then hopefully they will be motivated in the future to take interest in the College Democrats and the political party in general.”

Junior College Democrats Treasurer Allie Weinreb concurred.

“One of the main reasons we had the event was to attract new members (especially the freshmen) as well as introduce politics in a lighter, more fun way,” Weinreb said. “We are definitely trying to make the campus more politically active by having a wide variety of events that will attract many different kinds of people.”

Self-described as “‘Fair and Balanced,’ in the Fox News sense,” the performance seemed to lean a little to the left. Krespo expounded on the group’s political affiliation.

“I’m capable of empathy and rational thought because I’m a liberal,” he said.

“Comedy Against Evil” was by no means, however, an attempt to segregate certain elements of the student body. Pavle explained that the program was open to everyone.

“Certainly this event is geared towards democrats, liberals and independents – but also, to anyone with an open mind,” she said. “If I could attend the Ann Coulter ‘lecture’ and leave feeling that I learned something, then I think even the staunchest Republican could come to our event and enjoy himself/herself. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t happen too often at Colgate.”

The performance was by and large well received.

“In general, I think the show went really well,” junior Charley Burkly said, “I was pleased with our receptive, enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience. The show really built in strength with each comedian’s act.”

Burkly added that she hoped the performance would build momentum for future political activities.

“We hope that the enthusiasm at ‘Comedy Against Evil’ can continue through the semester as we support congressional candidates, facilitate dialogue with other political groups and bring excellent speakers to campus,” she said.

Accordingly, the College Democrats have big plans for the fall semester.

“This fall, we hope to engage new and old members of the club with discussions on the court controversy, the humanitarian effort for Hurricane Katrina survivors and work on congressional campaigns,” Pavle said.

“A more long term goal would be to have Howard Dean speak on campus, but that may not happen this year.”