Comedy Corner
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Comedy Corner is a sketch and improv comedy group at the University of Arizona. Started in 1979 by Adam Goldstein, it claims to be the nation's oldest college sketch comedy group, though in recent years it has branched out into doing improv comedy and previously videotaped comedy bits and shorts as well.
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[edit] History
According to legend, Comedy Corner began in 1979 as a weekly variety show that solicited talent from the student body through a weekly open auditioning process. Early shows included musical acts, juggling, ventriliquists, and even a person jumping over audience members on a bicycle. A small collection of students began submitting sketch comedy routines to the talent show, and quickly became a crowd favorite. Soon the sketch group was being featured weekly, and eventually other talent acts were dropped altogether. Thus, Comedy Corner became a sketch comedy troupe.
Comedy Corner was the only comedy group on the University of Arizona campus until October of 1997, when the improv comedy group the Charles Darwin Experience, had its first show and had a subsequent rise in popularity. What followed was a surge in comedy group founding at the university, starting with the sketch/improv group Ambidextrous Armada in 1999 (defunct), the sketch comedy group Mechanically Separated Chicken in 2001 (defunct), the improv group New Kevin in 2002, and the Street-Prov Theatre Collective in 2005.
Despite the surge in the number of comedy groups, Comedy Corner remains as the de-facto sketch group on campus, with many new students coming into the group every school year through an audition process. Prospective members can audition as writers, performers or both.
[edit] Organization
Comedy Corner is part of the University Activities Board, which is responsible for scheduling and funding all events at the University of Arizona. Each year Comedy Corner's membership votes on leadership positions for the following school year. The group traditionally designates one member as a producer and another member as a director.
The producer, who must be approved by the University Activities Board prior to his/her enactment as Comedy Corner's official producer, acts as a delegate to the University Activities Board. The producer handles all budgeting, finance, and organizational responsibilities. It is also the producer's responsibility to organize all aspects of the annual S.I.C.K. Festival, which takes place in the Spring semester.
Comedy Corner's director is responsible for the "artistic" element of the group's weekly shows. This involves leading discussions, writer's meetings, and rehearsals, creating a weekly show order, and introducing the weekly shows, or making arrangements for some sort of introduction, if one is necessary.
[edit] Auditions
Comedy Corner holds open auditions at the beginning of Fall and Spring semesters. The audition process changes as group membership changes, but there are some consistencies in the process in recent years: typically those who audition as writers submit samples of sketches, which are then read by all current members of the group and a majority vote decides if the prospective member becomes a writer. Those who audition as a performer typically cold-read one or two sketches aloud and perform one or two improv scenes, either with other auditioners or with current cast members. They are evaluated by the members of the group present in the audition and a majority vote decides if the prospective member becomes a performer. Auditions are traditionally accompanied by a delectable assortment of cookies and milk. 1% milk is preferred, as it is considered the milk most conducive to comedy.
[edit] Rehearsals
Rehearsal processes vary from week-to-week depending on the nature of the week's show. Typically, the group's writers and performers will meet on Sunday evening for a writer's meeting, where they discuss ideas and topics for sketches. More promising or developed ideas are then hashed out into first drafts of sketches, which are then run at the week's first rehearsal on Monday evening. The group then decides collectively to keep the sketch as-is, return it to the original writer or another group member for revisions, or scrap the sketch altogether. The group then meets for their second rehearsal on Wednesday evening, where writers and performers can re-submit re-written sketches, submit new sketches, and run sketches that were accepted on Monday. At the end of this rehearsal, the show's material is decided upon, and the group's director is responsible for creating a show order for the Friday show.
The performing cast also practices improv during rehearsals. Performers often play games and run scenes, and also participate in workshop-oriented exercises, which are not intended as performance pieces, but rather encourage the developement of skill sets that can be utilized during improv games and scenes.
Comedy Corner has also recently introduced indoor dodgeball into their standard rehearsal schedule. Dodgeball, when played in a particular format and with specific regulations, is useful in the developement of non-verbal communication, cooperation, group think, physical and mental agility, and comradery, all of which are useful tools for improvisational comedy. Additionally, it gives them a chance to hit one another with kickballs.
[edit] Weekly Shows
Comedy Corner performs its weekly sketch and improv comedy shows on Fridays starting at noon in the Cellar, located at the bottom level of the University of Arizona's Student Union building. Shows run approximately one hour long, and consist of sketches, improv games and scenes, and music and video presentations created by writers and cast members.
The last weekly show of each semester is a designated "Best Of" show, wherein the cast and writers choose their favorite sketches of the semester and showcase them in an encore presentation. In the past, "Best Of" shows have run longer than traditional weekly shows, ranging from ninety minutes to two hours, but in recent years the cast has decided to schedule their "Best Of" shows within their normal one hour timeslot.
[edit] Advertising
Comedy Corner is allotted an advertising budget by the University Activities Board. The primary means of advertising are print ads and postering. Weekly advertisements appear in the UofA's daily newspaper, The Arizona Daily Wildcat. Comedy Corner also blankets the university's campus weekly with posters, which are usually custom made and often feature humorous pictures and text, show information, and Comedy Corner's recognizable logo. In it's earlier years, Comedy Corner's posters were drawn by hand weekly, and featured extravagant and eye-catching artwork. In recent years, the posters have taken on more of a collage format, often utilizing clipart and photography in combination with text.
Advertising for the annual S.I.C.K. Comedy Festival is allocated from a separate budget developed solely for the Festival. S.I.C.K. advertising is usually much more elaborate, utilizing posters that are larger and more colorful. The group also occasionally experiments with unconventional advertising techniques in order to create intrigue and chatter within the UofA community.
[edit] The S.I.C.K. Comedy Festival
Comedy Corner hosts an annual comedy festival, the S.I.C.K. Festival. S.I.C.K. is an acronym for "Southwest Intergalactic Comedy Kermis."
The festival began in 1992 and is typically a showcase for Arizona college comedy groups, though occasionally has brought in professional talent to perform, such as comedians David Cross in 2001 and Lewis Black in 2003, Demitri Martin in 2005, and The Upright Citizens Brigade in 2006.
Comedy Corner treats the festival as a showcase for more elaborate new material, rather than a "best-of" event. Traditionally, Comedy Corner's S.I.C.K. performances are more extravagant and ellaborate, both technically and comedically, than their weekly shows, and tend to develop a show-length story arc that ties sketches and scenes together.
