Performing for a crowd that seemed about as responsive to jokes as a funeral party would be to a keg stand, comedians from all over the upper Midwest have come to Wisconsin’s capital city to compete in the preliminary round of the third annual Madison’s Funniest Comic Competition at The Comedy Club on State.
Participants in the competition are asked to come up with three minutes of material in the preliminaries, forcing them to bring out their best. Throughout the competition, the comedians will be judged by an panel of celebrity judges consisting of both current and former Badger football players, comic enthusiasts, last year’s champion Mike Schmidt and other notable touring comics such as Nathan Craig. The audience also casts ballots for their favorite comedians.
Judges, apart from keeping track of time, look for originality, stage persona, professionalism and appropriate material. Competitors are marked down for cursing or any other antics that may induce a cheap laugh from the crowd. After each round, the field will be cut down; the field goes from the original 68 competitors in the prelims to 20 in the first round. The next round will see only 15 competitors. Ten competitors will fight for the final three spots in the final round of the competition March 1.
“With nearly 70 competitors in the field, this year’s competition is the biggest the Comedy Club on State has hosted yet,” said Eve Paras, creator of the event. “Comics have an opportunity to gain further standing in their field with more notoriety if they win the competition. This can include MC work and possibly feature work at local clubs here in Madison or even regionally, not to mention a $500 purse.”
With the possibility of future employment and money on the line, comedians in this year’s preliminary round brought out a wide array of material and a ton of energy to the stage.
“In a competition that is seeming to evolve year after year, comedians are constantly changing their material in order to bring about the biggest laughs,” Paras said.
The first round of this year’s competition kept to this trend. Comedian Nate Bjork set the tone for the first night of the preliminaries by wearing a man purse complete with holder and joking about Weight Watchers. Rodney Burayidi also gained huge crowd responses on the first night with his high energy and mannerisms that he brought to the stage during a bit about snacks.
Other comedians lacked in both energy and laughs from the crowd, such as Alex Gawenda, who spoke in a monotone voice throughout his whole set about tweets. He seemed to sprint off stage as he almost ran over the maximum four minutes of allotted time. Rick Yoose, sporting a Pabst Blue Ribbon shirt, also seemed to lose the crowd’s attention as he tried to win them over with his “dick puns.”
The second night of the preliminary round brought out a crowd that almost seemed unwilling to laugh. Comedians resorted to what they thought was a guaranteed hit with the crowd. This game plan seemed to consist mostly of penis jokes, which only served to make the crowd antsy as comedian after comedian brought up the subject.
But notable comedians, such as Eric Linnes-Bagley and Daniel Borchardt, turned the crowd around. Bagley had the crowd roaring with his description of working at Plan B, a gay bar on the east side of Madison. Borchardt brought them to applause by describing his ideal girl as “being like Batman, dressed in leather and being motivated by dead parents.”
In a competition that changes as it moves forward, comedians will work their way through the next four rounds. Sets grow harder to perform as they increase in length from the original three minutes to five minutes in the first and second rounds, then to eight and 10 minutes in the third and final rounds respectively. A live crowd certainly wouldn’t hurt; here’s to hoping the funeral ends soon.
If you are a fan of local comedy or laughing in general, check out the Comedy Club on State at 9 p.m. every Wednesday in February.
