Entering my second spring here at the University, the winter thaw has finally begun. I’m sure you, much like me, are feeling that it’s high time we stop hibernating in our dorms and recover our joie de vivre. And what better way to do this than by stopping by a comedy show? Or better yet, a weekday comedy group meeting?

There has never been a better time to get involved with campus comedy, which is one of the larger scenes on campus with a total of 11 student groups. To dispel some rumors and wave away the mysterious air surrounding stand-up and improv, I sat down to talk about all things comedy with Theo Dolan ’24 and Kendall McDermott ’25. 

Dolan dabbles in both stand-up and improv, and devotes a rather significant portion of his life to being funny on campus. He’s part of New Teen Force (improv), Awkward Silence (stand-up), Wesleyan Tonight (sketch comedy), and Monkey Business (improv). While some of these groups, like NTF, require auditions, others do not.

“Going through that experience of not being able to get into improv groups made me really passionate about starting Monkey Business, which is an improv group that is open to anybody who wants to come,” Dolan said. “So there’s no auditions for it. And it’s like trying to make the comedy community more accessible to anybody who’s interested.”

McDermott is more involved within the University’s stand-up scene. She performs sets with Hysterics, which is open to all non-cis-male identifying individuals, and Awkward Silence—both of which are non-audition groups. With stand-up material, most individual groups will get together to review sets and share helpful feedback. Awkward Silence also holds writing sessions to help workshop ideas.

“I really like the process of trying to become funnier and learning how to be funny,” McDermott said. “It’s an art form. It gives me the opportunity to go up and get feedback versus just kind of doing it.” 

While McDermott had tried improv before coming to Wesleyan, she now prefers stand-up.

“I get really nervous whenever I go up, so I basically blackout for the entire day,” McDermott said. “I don’t always think I’m super clever on my feet. And so [while] the opportunity to sit and kind of work over material I appreciate, the notion of going up without a plan is totally awful to me. If I’m going up there and I’ve written material, I’m a little more confident in the fact that at least it’s coherent.”

Dolan agrees that Wesleyan is a great place to try your hand at stand-up with no prior experience.

“What’s really great about stand-up here for me [is that] it’s just a lot of my friends who are doing it,” Dolan said. “I never even really thought that I’d be that good. But I feel like…if you’re gonna try it anywhere you should try it here [at Wesleyan]. Because everyone who’s here has such a similar shared experience, it’s really easy to like, tap into that. It just made me more confident as a comedian.”

If you do want to try improv, on the other hand, and are feeling a bit apprehensive about getting started, Dolan shared his take on preparing (as much as one can prepare to improvise) for a show.

“You’re not really trying to be funny or tell a joke, in my opinion,” Dolan said. “You’re kind of supposed to try and create characters in reality a little bit. Do your best to kind of create an interesting character, and interesting relationships. Comedy will kind of arise from those situations without you really having to do too much work, which is so nice. Because if I had to just be like, up there, telling jokes and making people laugh, I don’t think I could do it at all. [That’s] a lot of pressure.”

The community that both comedians found in their groups has also helped them forge many new friendships.

“Most of my friends do comedy,” Dolan said. “It’s also nice because it’s a way to meet people in different grades. I have a bunch of sophomore friends because there are two sophomores who are in my group. Or freshmen even, I have some freshmen friends because of the comedy spaces.”

While some groups seemed intimidating at first, they ultimately proved to be welcoming and supportive environments.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Awkward Silence because…I was told they had a reputation of being the more edgy, less accepting group, but I found them to be really lovely.” McDermott said.

Dolan also wishes to return the support he has received by building a culture of positive community within the comedy spaces on campus. 

“When I was an underclassman, the seniors and the juniors that were a part of the comedy community were like, some of the sweetest, best role models that you could ever have,” Dolan said. “That has sort of made me feel like a responsibility to be that for other people if I can. And I think it’s a really healthy cycle.” 

Dolan hopes that more comedians from outside of the University will come and perform on campus.

“I brought in outside comedians from New York to workshop here at the beginning of the semester,” Dolan said. “And I know some improvisers from New York, maybe I’ll try my best to see if I can get them to come. But there’s no real system or anything in place to bring in outside comedians, because of comedy committees being gone. But that’s something I want to see more of.”

In the meantime, though, check out WesNest to learn more about each group’s offerings and get excited about the WesFest comedy show this weekend!

 

Arushi Khare can be reached at akhare@wesleyan.edu.