Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Vol. CLIV, Issue 6
Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Seattle Comedy Competition returns to campus

How often do you walk by Reid Ballroom on a Tuesday night and overhear, “Water, go suck on it, bitch!” “Fuck teeth, what other part of your body do you have to clean twice a day or it will fall off?” or “Don’t drink and drive, go home and smoke pot!”

The 28th annual Seattle Comedy Competition was in town on Tuesday, imparting the aforementioned words of wisdom on students and faculty, looking to narrow down their competitors in a semi-final round of comedy.

Ten contestants entertained students, hoping to garner their approval. Audience members were to clap loudly for those they liked. The amount of applause each comedian earned, in conjunction with a rating from Whitman’s Theatre Sports members, who were judging the event, determined whether or not they would advance.

Comedian John McClellan hosted the event. McClellan won the competition in 1996.

At the end of the night, comedians Andy Peters, Ruben Barron, Tony Boswell, Allyson Smith and Marcus made the top-five cut. Marcus, whose jokes were mostly about pop culture, making up his own lyrics to songs (“Did you say douche in my hand? That’s not right!”) and childhood movies like “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (“Just get back to chocolate and singing!”) won the round.
“Marcus was awesome,” said junior Caitlin Tortorici.

The comedians expressed that they had positive experiences performing for the Whitman audience.
“I thought they were great, it was kind of what I expected…I think Whitman lives up to their reputation: smart, liberal, well-rounded kids; they didn’t climb up on anything, they didn’t get too quiet. I think the kids are smart enough to know like what’s a joke and what’s being misogynist or something like that,” said competitor Andy Haynes.

“I thought they were lovely, it is nice too because there are no ‘boos’ and they are really listening and so they respond to details more so than just penis jokes. It is interesting, though, because it is a younger demographic, so you do switch up your material a little bit. This crowd is exceptionally smart, I thought,” said competitor Allyson Smith.

Opinions of the comedians differed among students, many of whom started trickling out of the Ballroom as the evening progressed.

“I thought it was pretty good. I didn’t really like the host that much. I thought he was very abrasive and loud. It seemed like a lot of the comedians resorted to being really vulgar and swearing a lot to get reactions. I thought [Allyson Smith] was really funny, because she was more creative in her humor,” said sophomore Cadence Ellington.

“I was actually impressed, I didn’t think it would be this funny. I liked them. I thought I would like the younger people more, but I liked the older crowd, too. I thought that all of them did a really good job of targeting our audience,” said sophomore Julie Grimm.

“Leif [Skyving] was pretty inappropriate,” said junior Lily Dethier. Junior Andy Erickson agreed.

“Yeah, we left in the middle of his. But, the magician guy [Ruben Barron] was pretty funny.”

“I really liked Andy Haynes and Kyle Harbert,” said Theatre Sports member sophomore Peter Richards.

The Comedy Competition has produced a number of comedic celebrities, including the late Mitch Hedberg, who won in 1997, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and David Silverman, who won the first year of the event in 1980.

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