Tiffany Haddish loves to hear laughter.
The standup comedian and actor told Humber’s student union IGNITE this week that to hear people laugh allows her to tackle the tough days.
“To hear people laughing is to me, like birds singing,” Haddish told the virtual Humber Real Talks audience, sharing her personal journey of overcoming homelessness and becoming famous.
“It’s the most beautiful sound in the world to me,” she said. “I laugh even, and some people out here with the ugliest laughs — it sounds like they got all the phlegm up in their throat or whatever — is still beautiful to me.”
Appreciating that beauty, Haddish said, is how she gets through the tough days.
With a guest like Haddish, the night was filled with inspirational stories for students with lots of laughter and a message about the importance of new opportunities. She showed her talent really had no limits — even on a screen.
She gave listeners tons of advice through the event and wanted students to know they should love what they do because then they’ll truly want to do it.
“She has an awesome personality and gave truly priceless advice,” Markus B. Music, a bachelor of paralegal studies student, told Et Cetera after the event.
“It’s eye-opening to know that regardless of success; people are people,” Music said. “You will be sad, you will experience disappointment and hardship, but just as life can be hard there is always an opportunity for many more successes to come your way.”
IGNITE offered numerous prizes to event-goers, including an Apple Watch Series 3, a Peace Collective bundle including a crewneck, backpack and a hat, and a free one-year subscription to Netflix.
On top of that, 50 students who registered on IGNITE’s website and stayed for the entire duration won a prize-pack that included a brand new copy of Haddish’s book, The Last Black Unicorn, and an Amazon Alexa.
“It kept lagging a couple of times and there was one moment when the audio and video weren’t in sync,” Dilshan Marasinghe, an electronics engineering technology student, told Et Cetera. “But that’s alright, things like this tend to happen in live stream events.”
Marasinghe said he enjoyed seeing a more personal side of Haddish and hopes IGNITE puts on similar events.
IGNITE continues to put on free virtual events for students throughout the school year to provide safe entertainment during the pandemic.
IGNITE’s Real Talk series allows celebrities to connect with students on a personal level, letting them tell their stories to relate with students.
Previous Real Talks showcased celebrities such as Bretman Rock, Margaret Cho, Tyler Oakley, and Dan Levy.