A new club has started on campus. Comedy Lab is a group of amateur comedians who get together and perform at open mic events and put on their own shows as well.
Miles Hendrix, the president, started Comedy Lab in January. He is the one who has done all of the leg work to start the club and getting the people together.
“It was actually really easy. I just went to the ASUI office and they were really helpful in helping me get everything started,” Hendrix said.
Comedy Lab is always looking for new people to join their club and help people discover their potential in comedy.
“It takes about five years to really get good at comedy,” Hendrix said. “Some have beginners luck and then will hit a wall and others will learn by trial and error.”
Different people find different things funny, he said.
“People don’t want to hear one long story and then a punch line. They want to hear joke after joke after joke,” Seth Frasure, an amateur comedian said.
Frasure never really thought he was that funny until his friend pointed out his story was funny one day. After joining Comedy Lab and learning the ropes a bit, Frasure learned to cater his life story to things other people find funny.
Comedy Lab tries to participate in open mic events all over Moscow and Pullman at least twice a week. This includes open mic at John’s Alley Tavern, Wanderers’ Tavern and Nomads in Pullman. They try to put on their own events on campus as well and have performed in the Wallace basement, Shoup Hall and the Kiva theatre in the education building.
Comedy Lab just had their final show for the school year. There are about eight active comedians in the club presently and they are hoping to expand in the future.
“We have a lot of male comics. I would really like to see a bigger female presence in our club,” Hendrix said.
Stage fright is something that holds many people back from performing. Many worry that they aren’t funny or that they might be taking something too far. Personalizing the jokes make it easier to remember and makes the performer more engaged with the audience on a more intimate level, Hendrix said.
“Just remember that people want to laugh. People want you to be funny and they want you to succeed,” Frasure said.
In Comedy Lab, the comedians will meet after their performances and critique each other on their jokes. They let one another know what was funny, what wasn’t, what worked and what didn’t. They don’t have too many meetings and what a person puts into it, is what the person is going to get out of it.
“If someone is interested in doing comedy, the best way to get ahold of us is through Facebook. All of our events are posted there as well,” Hendrix said.
Kaitlyn Martin can be reached at [email protected]