Girl Power: Girl Code’s Carly Aquilino Visits Frostburg

“Girl Code” is a gift from the gods. Whether you’re a man trying to understand why girls pretend they don’t have bodily functions, a girl desperately hoping that you are definitely not crazy and other people think about pizza in a spiritual manor too, or simply someone looking for a good, honest laugh, “Girl Code” is for you. The show revolves around a group of women discussing daily womanly happenings in a talking heads style used in many popular sitcoms such as “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.” Carly Aquilino is one of the regular hosts of “Girl Code,” and amazingly, she came to visit Frostburg State University Thursday, September 18.

Aquilino is known for her down-to-earth personality, and she exhibited her relatability during her stand-up performance. She has a vibrant personality, and no, it’s not just her hair. The “Girl Code” star is known for her flowing pink locks, so FSU students were flabbergasted when she sauntered on stage with partially bleached hair braided carefully around her head. During the Q&A she gave at the end of her stand-up, she revealed that she was trying to go for a slightly more normal look, but her hair has been various shades of magenta for so long that her hair stylist couldn’t get the color out.

After the initial uproar, Aquilino dove right in to a very relatable routine, mostly revolving around dating horror stories. The 23 year old MTV star described an epidemic that many college aged pre-adults are familiar with; Friends: Drunk or Pregnant. “Some of my friends are getting pregnant and I’m just like… why…would you do this to me right now? It’s just so selfish!” Aquilino exclaimed. At the cusp of adolescence and adulthood, many people find themselves torn between constant partying and settling down, and both groups question whether or not they would be better off in the other category. Regardless of their marital statuses, Aquilino said, all of her friends are annoying with their lives and happenings and she doesn’t actually like them anyway.

Aquilino then moved on to her relationship experiences. She explained cheating in a relationship through a metaphor for getting a puppy. “You get this puppy, and you love it. It’s a nice puppy. Then, later on, the puppy grows up and it’s not as cute as it used to be, but what the hell, better than not having a puppy, right? So then, your puppy goes to Atlantic City for a week… and screws a 55 year old Mexican lady.”

Aquilino’s brand of humor is hilarious because she is brutally honest. While much of the audience seemed to idolize her, she is around the same age as most college students, so she faces the same problems as many of her listeners. She worries about texting “rules” like never texting a guy first and how many ‘y’s she can put at the end of her “hey” before she starts to sound desperate. She talked about awkward hook-up stories and different types of farts. Even though she has become wildly successful and is one of the most recognized faces from MTV, she is still a young adult who really just wants to get her grocery shopping over with so she can “swing by” TJ MAXX on the way home.

She leveled with the audience, asking for crowd input and conversation, making her already relatable stories hit even closer to home. She ended her show with a 15 minute question and answer session, responding to each person personably and colloquially, answering every question as if she were telling a friend about her day – a shift from her stand-up persona. While all of her jokes and stories were engaging and accessible, her Q&A made her outstandingly approachable. She told the audience that she wishes Angela Basset from “American Horror Story” was her best friend, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is her man crush and the co-star she is closest to is Jesse Mae. She said that while the funny episodes of “Girl Code” are fun to do, she really enjoys being able to talk on serious topics, like insecurities that everyone deals with.

According to Aquilino, “Girl Code” fans have a brand new cast to look forward to in the new season as well as a ton of new sketches. Don’t forget to tune into MTV at 11 p.m. on October 1 to catch the start of the new season featuring the lovely and down-to-earth Carly Aquilino.