Comedy of every colour

Comedy is tough. But as Jason Moseley can attest, planning a comedy show is even harder.

Especially when you’re trying to reach every demographic of the local cultural makeup, with comedians chosen for their ethnicity.

“We try to have comedians from across the global spectrum,” says Moseley, event organizer for the Centennial College Student Association. “We try to have South Asian comedians, Africa comedians, European comedians, et cetera. We also try to find comedians that have talked about a variety of issues.”

“It’s Just A Comedy Show,” open to the general public, is in its third year running.

While it’s currently a success, according to Moseley, it wasn’t always this way.

“Comedy’s something we’d always been trying to run at the college,” he says. “But during my tenure here, it hadn’t been successful.”

The problem was one of demographics. “With the diverse student population that we have, getting comedians that can connect with our students on the stage is the key to ensuring the show’s success,” he says.

The ethnic comedians are selected by interacting with Yuk Yuk’s talent agency.

Then, it’s up to a panel of students to decide who will ultimately perform. Either the agency sends a video, or the panel looks up clips on Youtube. Regardless, they have the final say about the lineup.

In the end, it was this focus on diversity that caused the shows to finally take off, even when they started running overly long.

“During the first one, they had a concern over how long it was. With five comedians, it is a long show,” he says. “Comedy shows usually only run for an hour and a half. Ours actually goes for two and a half hours. But I think because of the diversity of the comedians and the diversity of topics, the show gets to that climax and stays there, until the very last comedian walks off the stage.”

This climax led to a success that even the college itself was not prepared for. “We actually had to turn away people at the door,” Moseley says. “So we decided to host a second show,” which happened second semester. Whether or not there will be a second show this year, he says, will be strictly up to popularity.

The show will run Fri., Sept. 25, starting at 7:30 p.m. Students get in for $2, and the general public for $5.

Be sure to check our website for photos and clips after the show.

About this article

By: Anthony Geremia
Posted: Sep 25 2009 9:33 am
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Filed under: Arts & Life