Who needs foam when you have oatmeal?
This past Saturday, Sept. 22, students from all 5Cs gathered in Doms Lounge for Late Night Stand-Up Comedy’s “No More Tears” performance, in which they watched oatmeal dry as both students and L.A. comedians shared humorous anecdotes, witty one-liners and live renditions of whiny pop songs.
In order to demonstrate his appreciation for the healthy turnout in spite of it being the night of the infamous Foam party, the first student comedian, Charles Blyzniuk CM ’14, made his very own party by chucking a reusable cup full of maple brown sugar across the stage to the thumping bass of blaring dance music.
“No More Tears” was the first show of the year for the student-run Late Night: 5C Stand-up Comedy club. Student comedians included Pedro Salinas PO ’13, who hosted the night’s event, Blyzniuk and Ellie McElvain SC ’14, all of whom collectively evoked a night’s worth of laughter with self-deprecating jokes, hilarious retellings of embarrassing party experiences and public declarations of their latent socially unacceptable desires.
“My natural physical state of rest is lurking. I don’t so much approach people as I do inadvertently sneak up on them,” joked Salinas as he opened up the night with his own set before “awkwardly” hanging around throughout the rest of the event to introduce other comedians.
“How cute would it be if you just severed off a really tough guy’s finger and his knuckle tats read ‘hug life’?” asked McElvain as she shared her revolutionary, yet slightly disturbing, interpretation of the word “cute” to the audience.
Each allotted a full 10 minutes of monologue time, the comedians were faced with the nerve-wracking task of coming up with their own original material and standing in front of the scrutinizing audience of their intellectual peers.
“I keep a notepad on me all the time. If I see something and it triggers a response, I’ll write it down and hopefully perform it in a smaller setting, “ McElvain said in reference to her creative process.
When asked if she ever got stage fright, McElvain answered with an emphatic yes.
“I try to deal with it by not thinking about it, but that’s also what gets me excited to go up because then whatever pressure I feel usually I can convert that to being excited about the show and so that can come through in my energy,” she said.
Also featured in the hour long show was guest L.A. comedian Shelby Fero. Fero is a stand-up comedian, full-time screenwriting student at USC’s prestigious School of Cinematic Arts and an Internet icon with a Twitter account attracting over 76,000 followers. She is a contributor to Cracked magazine and the website “Hello Giggles” and has recently finished writing for a Conan O’Brien-produced show.
Fero’s topics included her period, America’s weight obsession and diet pills.
The night, filled with much laughter and beer, was only the first of five shows this semester.