For third-year College student Garrett Barnes, participating in Rooftop Comedy's National College Comedy Competition in early April called attention to ways in which the University's stand-up scene lacks punch, if not punch lines.
Rooftop's stand-up competition brought together comics from 32 universities to compete in an NCAA-style bracket contest. A team of comedians from the University of Maryland later advanced past the eight participating University students in a round of online voting, but that didn't prevent Barnes from making the most of the opportunity. He said the event, held in Washington, D.C., was a chance "to actually meet stand-ups who do it for a living."
Back on Grounds, however, opportunities for stand-up are mostly limited to open mic nights, second-year College student Josh Bressler said.
"To perform in a different venue is a really good experience because I think a lot of the time, the open mics we do around here aren't set up for comedy," Barnes said. "We'll follow someone who read a really depressing poem, and we'll have to go and tell jokes, and it doesn't go over well."
Early this semester, in an attempt to give stand-up a space of its own, Bressler created the U.Va. Comedy Club with second-year College student Stephen Flowers.
Although the club fizzled out without gaining contracted independent organization status, Bressler said he plans to try to resurrect the group next semester.
"I think its major pitfall was that people are less willing to join things second semester," Bressler said. "The meetings we did have were hysterical. We just had people get up and talk about some material, pretty raw material, and we'd just feed off each other."
Bressler estimated that about 40 or 50 University students participate in stand-up, and Barnes added that an organization to bring these comics together would be helpful.
"We see each other at the open mics, but there's not a support network for people, and there's no place to go if you're trying to start out," Barnes said.
Such an organization also would help active comics polish jokes together, he added.
Flowers said he and Bressler were "surprised there wasn't already a stand-up comedy club."
"I know there's a lot of good comics at U.Va. who are looking for more outlets," he added.
Third-year College student Megan Burke, the outgoing comedy director of the University Programs Council, said a regular forum for stand-up comics is something she'd like to see.
"UPC has talked about how we'd like to have something more regular; more like a monthly open mic night," she said. "It would be great if different stand-up groups could get together and talk to the UPC."
Burke said there are more comedians at the University than some realize.
"When we advertise that we want to have a [comedy] competition, it's amazing how much feedback we get," she said. "It would be nice if more outlets could be created for these comedians."
Second-year College student Jesse Grabman attempted to create such an outlet with his March 25 fundraiser "Stand Up for the Community." He said the event, which featured 14 comedians, raised $600 for Madison House.
"There's a lot of catch-all open mic nights, but I would like to see more nights just dedicated to stand-up comedy," Grabman said. "It's also just really hard to get people to explore comedy because it's just such a weird activity, basically just going up on stage and talking for seven minutes, putting yourself out there - it's a little hard to draw people out of their shells."
However, "there's no wrong way to be funny," Bressler said.
Barnes agreed, noting the diversity of stand-up styles.
"There's just so many ways you can go about doing it," he said. "It's really cool to see who does comedy in a certain style and who talks about what topics; it's just a really good way to open people up to different perspectives."
Similarly, Bressler said he thinks "humor is the best way to bridge gaps between people.
"Growing up, I was real short, and I got made fun of a lot," Bressler said. "I never really took any of that to heart, but instead I used humor as a defense mechanism. And I was pretty good at it."
Bressler agreed to share a joke and searched through his phone, in which he said he records "stupid thoughts" as they occur to him.
As an example he read, "Every time I make a sweeping generalization, people tell me to put down the broom."
Grabman also reeled off a one-liner: "Every once in a while I'll take a girl home, and my friends will ask me, 'How far did you get with her?' I'll say, about University and Rugby," he said.
Although the University still lacks a cohesive group for stand-up comics, Bressler said he enjoys existing performance opportunities.
"It's awesome, especially when there's a good crowd," he said. "When the audience is on your side and the adrenaline is pumping and you put in things you weren't even planning on saying ... it's sort of symbiotic; you feed off each other's energy"
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