Tips on how to find your funny with the help of a student theater group
Colgate’s Experimental Theater Company (ETC) is a student comedy group where members learn the art of writing sketches and perform them biannually. The comic crew has performed since 2008 and currently features 13 members, led by co-presidents Pedro Martinez Calleja ’23 and Betsy Figge ’25.
Sketches similar to ETC’s performances can be seen in popular media, such as the TV series SNL and I Think You Should Leave. But how are these shows successful at making us laugh? Figge and Martinez Calleja offer a threefold plan.
Any good joke starts with the construction. A starting point is to think about a familiar topic and dissect its comedic value. “Write about things you know the most about,” Figge says. “I find that it’s easier to make fun of something you love more than something you hate.”
Martinez Calleja adds: Think of a recent time when you found something funny. What about that moment made you laugh? That’s a starting point for a sketch. “You should get a premise, and then experiment with situational humor and laugh lines,” he offers. “A good joke takes something that makes you laugh in real life and boils it down into what made it funny, and that will give you the essence of a laughable premise.”
Based on their personal values, different audiences will react to humor differently. To appeal to the most listeners, keep your content current. “When you’re writing something, try to stay as recent as possible,” says Figge. “If I wrote a parody sketch on a movie that came out five years ago, it wouldn’t hit as well as a sketch on a movie that just came out.”
Who is in your crowd? To ETC, this is often an audience of Colgate students. ETC’s sketches usually poke fun at pieces of this demographic’s everyday life. “For example, we just wrote a sketch about core classes,” Figge says. “I remembered that one of my friends is taking core California, and I thought, well what if there was a core Westchester [N.Y.]? What about core Darien [Conn.]?”
Relating your content to the experiences of your crowd is a sure way to find content.
To land the joke, delivery is key. By now, you’ve taken the time to plan your content and reach your audience. All that’s left is to commit to your confidence. “Don’t hold back,” Figge says. “When people are closed off and shy, the joke doesn’t land as well.”
“Don’t psych yourself out beforehand,” adds Martinez Calleja. “Trust yourself — comedy has low stakes.”
Altogether, keep your cool: Plan your content, consider your listeners, and remain confident when you deliver your sketch. By then, you’ll have enough chuckle cred to keep your audience hooked.