Michael McDonald is a very funny man. And a great storyteller.Just ask the 1200+ people who came out to see him Thursday night at the Sacramento State UNIQUE event in the Grand Ballroom. It was standing room only!

Many people remember McDonald's signature character "Stuart," a strange little boy with the body of a full-grown man from his many years on "MADtv." Now McDonald is simply... well, Michael McDonald, a storyteller extraordinaire.

Right from the beginning, when "Last Comic Standing" alumni Jason Downs opened the show, everyone was ready to laugh. Downs, a San Francisco comic, delivered jokes about Sarah Silverman, a bong trade show in Las Vegas and masturbating in front of a laptop and racing to finish before the battery goes dead. All wonderful material for the college-age audience.

McDonald began by asking everyone to consider this evening we were sharing with him "like a date." Well, it wasn't an interactive date, but it was a very enjoyable evening listening to his stories.

The audience learned that McDonald and his roommates used to pull practical jokes on the pizza delivery guy. He told stories about the "Octomom" and his adventure with his physical therapist that ended up in a homophobic entanglement.

The crowning moment that the audience waited so patiently for: "Stuart" came out in a very funny story about how McDonald had to do numerous takes of a scene because, as the sound man insisted after the third attempt, "every time you flexed your leg, your knee cracking was picked up by the dialogue mics."

All told, it was an enjoyable evening of comedy. Not the rolling-on-the-floor-laughing kind that keeps you grasping for breath, but the fun of seeing a seasoned actor using his stories, his voice and his physicality to tell stories and make you laugh.

Was it a successful date? The laughter of the audience confirmed that it was.

I would also like to take this forum to personally acknowledge Zenia Diokno and her UNIQUE staff for putting on show after show of the highest quality - for free. So on behalf of all 1200+ people in attendance and those reading this... Thank You!

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This Web site is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com