triggernometry | News Story: Second Draft (Reply)

COMEDY MIC NIGHT: A COMEDIAN’S OPEN MIC

‘Don’t worry, but I am a hostage right now,” said Summer Storholt, standing on stage at the Underground Coffee House. The crowd sat in mismatched sofas on a Thursday night, listening to her expectantly. “It’s okay, I’ve escaped. But there’s a bee in my room. I don’t know where it is. He’s been in there for a day now.”

Storholt, a Western student, was performing at Comedy Mic Night: A Comedian’s Open Mic. The program, redundantly named on purpose, provides a comfortable, casual platform for new and veteran comedians alike to perform. Jake Foerg, president of the Stand-Up Comedy Klub (SUCK), explains that he came up with the idea to give new people the opportunity to try stand-up and experienced comics a place to keep trying new things.

“I ran into a lot of people that said they really wanted to try stand-up and then never really followed through with it,” said Foerg, “because they didn’t want to either commit time to a stand-up club and then go through the process to actually get cast in a show.”

This makes it easy for anyone to try or practice-stand up. Comedy Mic Nights happen every first and third Thursday of the month. Sign-ups are available at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7. Western Washington University has been described by many student comedians as a casual, comfortable place to perform.

“The students are so eager to laugh. And I can’t really do my school comedy jokes elsewhere in bars or in anything like that,” said Anna Snedden, an experienced comic who has done stand-up for over a year. “Because when I say I’m a student it’s like, ‘oh’. They check out immediately. But this crowd loves it.”

Benjamin Crabill, another veteran comic and member of SUCK, also feels comfortable performing at the Underground Coffee House. He feels that when student comics perform to fellow students, who are often supportive, it helps them relax. “Everyone here at the Underground is very receptive as opposed to some people at bars and clubs, where here we want you to try to be funny and we want to laugh at you,” he said.

Comics of varied styles and experience can come up to the stage. Some tell stories, others tell one-liners. Some move around stage making wild gestures, others speak in deadpan tones that add to their humor. One performer, Gabe Reardon, accidentally kicked a rug on stage while acting out his story.

“Sorry, carpet,” he said.

Though dirty jokes are certainly not off-limits, many of the jokes told are about school, hometown, parties, drugs, video games, and sometimes even race.

“I look more black, my brother looks more white, and my sister looks like Beyonce,” said Phil Burton, explaining his mixed ethnicity to the audience. “Brothers with different skin tones that are not adopted can be really hard for people under 10 and over 60 to understand.”

Most of the comedians who perform at Comedy Open Mic come up with their material in their day-to-day lives. For some, a funny idea will “pop” into their minds. Others get jokes from real-life experiences. Regardless of where they get it, they always write it down.

“I have a philosophy that I think most people are hilarious, comics just write things down,” said Crabill. “They look for deeper meaning and insight into things. They extrapolate things to the point of absurdity.”

Comedy Open Mic is available for anyone who wants to try their hand at comedy. SUCK also meets on the second, fourth, and sometimes fifth Thursday of the month in Humanties 108.