The Problem of Comedy at Amherst College

Whether I’m performing grandiose acts on stage or making small memes for my friends, my essence has always been tied to laughter. I came to Amherst ready to jump into comedic performance, and watching Voices of the Class during first-year orientation only invigorated my spirit. There was clearly a community of people here that I wanted to be a part of. All I had to do was throw myself into the ring. When expressing these aspirations, however, Julian Brown ’23 gently told me to lower my expectations. I didn’t understand then what he was talking about. I do now.

Amherst’s comedy scene is much tougher than it might seem, despite the strong first impression that shows like Mr. Gad’s House of Improv and Voices of the Class leave on first-year students. Unfortunately, for most aspiring comics at the college, that’s where things stop. Unless a student is already closely associated with the people running these groups, it becomes extremely difficult to have an opportunity to get on stage.

Personally, I have had a fairly rough experience auditioning. I spent my freshman and sophomore years throwing myself at, essentially, every single comedy opportunity available. I naturally had a rough start with my lack of real training and experience (Korean international high schools don’t place much value on the performing arts), but I started finding my rhythm with the help of some feedback. Eventually, I started coming to auditions prepared, consistently garnering a good number of laughs from the panels. Despite this, I found myself stifled at every step of the way. What really stung was when the initial feedback completely stopped. Without any notes, it felt like I was simply banging my head against a brick wall, hoping that one day the wall would crack. With time, that dull pain of rejection just ate away at my psyche.

My moment of clarity arrived when Tim Carroll ’25 and Slate Taylor ’25 offered to sit down and talk — a conversation I am endlessly thankful to them for having with me. For the first time in two years, I was given a clear-cut answer to the question that had been destroying me my entire sophomore year: Why have I never been given a second chance? It ended up coming down to style. Unfortunately, my style of chaotic, explosive comedy wasn’t what the Gads were looking for, and this wasn’t something that was going to change about my performances.

This isn’t a critique of the Gads specifically. I respect them as talented performers who know what they are doing and are great at what they do. The real problem here is the powerful position that Gads holds on campus as the college’s sole comedy group — a massive limitation on the school’s comedy scene. 

If someone wants to see comedy, they essentially only have the Gads. Even outside of improv, everything that has to do with comedy, such as Ghostlight and Voices of the Class, is handled by Gads. Because of this, only one style of comedy is shown at all times — that being the subtle but absurdist improv that the Gads perform. There is nothing wrong with this style of comedy. The problem is that this is the only style of comedy available. There is no large slapstick comedy that relies on movement. There is no bombastic comedy that relies on chaos and unpredictability. There is no deadpan comedy, no parodies, no musical comedy. If your sense of humor doesn’t match the Gads, you don’t get to enjoy comedy that matches your tastes.

This is an issue that would apply to literally any group on campus. Take a cappella, for example. The reason why the a cappella scene doesn’t share the same issues with the comedy scene is due to the number of options available. There are six a cappella groups on campus, all with completely different atmospheres and music tastes. Without the same diversity of comedy groups, so many types of humor are just thrown to the side. And with that, so much potential talent remains undiscovered.

Currently, comedians have three options if they wish to perform:

1. Get into or get acquainted with the Gads
2. Get support from the theater department to put up your own personal projects
3. Perform at Coffee Haus

I want to inspire some potential solutions by giving some advice to aspiring comedians:

When it comes to Gads, make sure you keep your expectations realistic. Be prepared to accept that this may not work out, no matter what you do, and know that sometimes, it’s not about how good a performer you are, but that perhaps you don’t fit the Gads style.

While many on campus are under the belief that the theater and dance (THDA) department is a Chamber of Secrets where only majors can enter, this is simply not true. The department is happy to support nonmajors as long as they undergo the necessary steps. First, get to know a professor in the department. Take a class and find opportunities to sit down and talk with them. THDA faculty members who focus on acting and directing (Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance JaMario Stills, Professor of Theater and Dance Ron Bashford, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance SEVAN Tavoukdjian) are all very open to sitting down with anyone to talk about theater and performance. After that, try showing the professor your idea for a potential project you may want to put up in the future. Theater takes time and a lot of planning, so randomly approaching a professor you’ve never met before and demanding a space is not realistic (an equivalent of this would be approaching a random biology professor and asking if they could use the Science Center confocal microscope to look at funny dirt they picked up). Any nonmajor who wants to get the support of the department should take the time to actually get to know a professor.

I highly recommend students interested in stand-up comedy or one-man plays to try performing at Coffee Haus. It is a great experience, and the audience at Marsh Arts House is very supportive. Make sure you prepare some material and don’t be afraid to fail. That fear kept me from Coffee Haus my entire freshman year and still haunts me whenever I walk up on that stage. It takes a lot of courage to take that initial plunge, but I heavily encourage any student to bite the bullet and throw themselves onto that stage. 

I find myself lucky that, despite the sheer number of shortcomings within the community, my comedy has found a place on campus through performing stand-up at Coffee Haus and coordinating a full-length play with the THDA department. I would like to thank the people at Marsh for creating space with their open mic nights and the THDA department for their support. However, not all comedians wish to perform stand-up or act in full-length plays. The truth still stands that comedy has a long way to go on campus. 

The solution to the problems of comedy is not to shame the people in the system right now or demand that they run their groups differently. I am a firm believer that the art comes first, and the Gads have a system that clearly works in this department. I also want to clarify that I am not accusing the Gads of being nepotistic or purposefully exclusive in any way. In order for an improv group to be functional, the members need to have a similar sense of humor and a compatible creative vision for scenes. Because of this, people within this circle will be more inclined to pick each other as they are the best performers of their style of comedy. In other words, the problem isn’t due to some intentional action by the Gads; it’s more like an unfortunate side effect.

I would now like to directly speak to all aspiring comedians on this campus, especially those who are current first years and sophomores. If you have any desire to perform comedy on campus that doesn’t align with the Gads, open mic, or theater, please don’t be afraid to start something new. Getting into comedy may be difficult right now, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Comedy should be accessible on this campus, and that sort of change will only really take effect when new groups form and grow to the extent that the Gads have. Whether that be a sketch comedy group, musical comedy, clown club, 24-hour plays, or even a different improv group, Amherst needs to see some more variety enter the ring.