Everyone enjoys a little humor and some laughs every once in awhile. Laughing to the extent that your stomach hurts, either means you have really funny friends or you’re at a comedy show. Upcoming comedy shows on campus are sure to provide a rib-tickling good time.
Danny Lang, a freshman in the College of Business Administration and a member of the Studio 013 Refugees, also known as the Fugees, since the start of the school year, has been performing comedy formally for five years. Lang’s high school had an improv troop, which his parents urged him to join. His director and his love for all things funny really got him into the act of performing comedy. Lang has done plays and other performances since eighth grade.
Lang said that he gets his ideas for comedy mainly through his own experiences.
“I make weird stories weirder with tiny observations, or I joke about body image issues with myself,” Lang said.
People in his life, like his parents and brothers, are sources for humor as well.
“(The Fugees) had one (show) last month, and the new group members were only in the last little part of it,” Lang said. “This Friday, we’re having another show, and we’re all going to be in (the entire show) this time.”
The group performs in Marquette Hall once a month. This Friday it is at 8 p.m. “I was actually surprised at how many people were there (last time),” Lang said.
Group members get time in advance to think about their routine before they perform. “I attempt to write jokes, and then if I know I’m going to be doing an open mic or something, I plan out what I’m going to say,” Lang said. He also said that if someone were to ask him to do a stand-up mic, and he only had an hour or so to prepare, he would use a routine he previously performed. However, he does slightly alter each performance. “Some people are like, ‘I loved this line,’ and then I’ll probably emphasize that more the next time (I perform that routine),” Lang said.
Lang said that making people laugh is really fun. “In (normal) conversation, it’s a good feeling, but then making strangers laugh is a better feeling because they don’t really know who you are,” he said.
However, there is a difference between conversational humor and stand-up humor. “With improv, you’re being a character, because most of the time, these are not real situations. With stand-up, it’s more planned, and no one’s responding or giving feedback right then and there,” Lang said. The laughter or the audience’s reactions are the response.
Lang said that his favorite thing about comedy is hearing people laugh. “There’s a lot of satisfaction in knowing that you succeeded in doing something. With improv, they’re laughing at what you said or what you wrote previously, which are both equally great,” Lang said.
Reilly Harrington, a freshman in the College of Communication, is not a part of the Fugees but is interested in comedy at Marquette.
“Ever since I started watching (comedy), probably when I was 7, I thought that maybe I could do this. I’d find Comedy Central, and this guy would be telling this story, and I’d just be cracking up laughing,” Harrington said.
Harrington was a part of his high school’s TV network. He would help put on the morning announcements. “When the scripts got really messed up, we would just go off script and start goofing around,” Harrington said. “I did my first show here at Marquette, like actually doing stand-up comedy, at the Open Mic.” This event was held at the beginning of the academic school year.
Harrington, like Lang, also enjoys hearing people laugh. “It’s this kind of weird satisfaction,” Harrington said. “I always have this self-doubt, like ‘hmm, maybe I’m not that funny,’ but then I’ll go up on stage and say some dumb offhand comment, and people will start laughing,” Harrington said. “I’d like to perform again, but I just really haven’t had the opportunity.”
In addition to the Studio 013 Refugees’ upcoming show on Friday, there also will be a stand-up comedy show by Hari Kondabolu, a professional comedian from New York, held in the Weasler Auditorium Saturday 7-9 p.m.
