The final act, Neil Hamburger, quietly walked on stage at the House Café holding a drink in each hand.

The comedian began sipping from a cup then began a coughing fit that would put an asthmatic 20-year smoker to shame.

Classic Neil Hamburger.

An intimate crowd gathered at 9 p.m. Thursday night the House, 263 E. Lincoln Highway. When the opening act, Lord of the Yum-Yum, began 40 minutes later, the crowd had grown.

Yum-Yum took the stage in his powder blue ruffled tuxedo and used his electronic loop machine to turn into a one-man beat-box crew.

The self-proclaimed “Number one classical music looper person in all 50 states,” began to grind, scat and beat-box classical pieces ranging from Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” to Salt-n-Pepa’s “Push It” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

The crowd sat in quiet laughter as Yum-Yum performed, not wanting to miss a single vocal vibration.

Next, Pleaseeasaur, with his frequent costume changes, performed.

He combined his commercial-esque and PSA-ish songs and bits while interacting with a video screen.

It was nearly 11 p.m. and the headliner was on stage to a crowd of more than 100.

It was as if his dark-clothed fans knew when he was going to take the stage.

Hamburger last performed at the House in February, and offended a large portion of the audience, said John Ugolini, the talent buyer for the café.

Some people even walked out.

Ugolini said Hamburger’s edgy style is what makes him appealing to college students.

“He’s a cult icon,” he said.

Hamburger began his routine by asking what Tupac Shakur and the film “Ocean’s 13” had in common.

For a few moments, the crowd was silent, waiting for the punch line.

Then half the crowd shouted at the stage, “What, Neil?”

“Both were shot in Vegas.”

The rest of his routine was filled with non-sequiturs that were often obscene, but always hilarious.

The setup for his jokes would either be highly offensive or as clean as possible, but the punch line would be a 180-degree turn.

Throughout his routine, he would drink, cough and spill his drink during jokes. But instead of disrupting the flow, the interruptions only strengthened his “really bad comic” style.

At one point, Hamburger asked if controversial material was permitted in DeKalb.

“I don’t want to be dragged off in handcuffs,” he said.

After the crowd convinced him he was safe, Hamburger continued.

“What did the Hispanic (cough) employee at the Burger King drive-thru say to presidential nominee Barack Obama when he asked if they could make him a double bacon cheeseburger with no mayo?”

From the moment Hamburger coughed, the audience did not stop laughing.

It only grew exponentially louder as the seemingly racist joke dragged on.

“Yes we can,” he said.

Hamburger owes his fame to his mannerisms and his ability to connect two seemingly unrelated subjects.

He is atypical because he has chosen to be an “anti-comic” comic.

But that’s his life.