Comedy might be the most extreme form of art. Being funny on a stage for a specified amount of time is daring enough, but bursting into the industry is akin to lighting an explosive’s very, very long fuse ““ the wait time before the blast can be interminable.
The second of three performances in the Student Committee for the Arts’ “Comedy Explosion” series detonates tonight at 8 o’clock in the Northwest Campus Auditorium. Like all events put on by the SCA, it is completely free, but tickets must be picked up in advance either at CTO or half an hour before showtime at the box office.
“It’s a really unique series, because it brings together student comedians and professional comedians and puts them on the same stage,” said Tiffany Aryeh, a fourth-year history student and member of the SCA. “It gives student comedians practice getting comfortable with the crowd and practice delivering their acts in front of an audience.”
Student group Bruin United Improv Comedy Kraze (BUICK) opened for comedian Nick Thune at the previous “Comedy Explosion” show last Wednesday, and is slated for 25 minutes of improv at the beginning of tonight’s lineup.
This mingling of rookie and seasoned comics is a testament to the SCA’s encouragement and support of all arts among UCLA students by bringing one-of-a-kind performances to campus.
“It’s a quality comedy show on campus for free, which is unusual,” said Ana Mac Donald, a fifth-year anthropology student and education liaison for the SCA. “A lot of our population isn’t 21, and can’t go to clubs to see comedy. Clubs are also far away, and comedy shows on campus are rare compared to concerts or films.”
Tonight’s headlining comic, Brent Weinbach, has performed at his fair share of clubs, been aired on the radio and has taped for television, but he is no stranger to less conventional venues ““ such as one laundromat-turned-alternative club.
Weinbach has performed all over the country since his start in 2002, but is best known in Northern California and here in Los Angeles. Weinbach, a 26-year-old comedian based in the San Francisco Bay Area, says his style has a “quirky dynamic.”
“I try to do things onstage that go deeper than language, that create a stronger response. I do a lot of voices, but it has less to do with the words and more to do with the physicality of it, the sonic quality,” Weinbach said. “I also play with structure a lot. There’s layering, with characters doing impressions of other characters.”
The audience may assume that the character at the core of all the layered ones seen onstage is Weinbach’s true self, but Weinbach thinks otherwise.
“I do a character onstage as my default presence, but it’s not a character as much as it is an exaggeration of who I am,” he said.
On or offstage, in the comedy industry, one’s personal character must be equipped for tough audiences and braced for crushing twists of fate. In an industry that’s all about the laughs, starting out is usually not very funny, and guarantees don’t come with experience.
About one year ago, Weinbach taped a short segment for a televised late-night comedy show. It was a great success, both with the show’s host and with the studio audience. At the last minute, an executive decided to cut Weinbach’s segment from airing; it was like his involvement with the show had never happened.
“Sometimes things are 100 percent sure, and they fall through,” Weinbach said. “That’s just show business. There are people who’ve been doing comedy for years and years and never get a break, and people who start doing comedy and three months later they have their own show.”
Some people happen to light a short fuse, shooting off quickly into fame. Others, however, can speed up the process by marketing themselves on the Internet.
A new trend for comedians has been to utilize Web sites like MySpace and YouTube to post clips of performances and draw a following, among other uses. Weinbach says, though, that it’s purely business for him; he wouldn’t use the site for strictly personal uses.
“If it weren’t for (being in) comedy, I would not be on MySpace,” he said.
Mac Donald, Aryeh and other members of the SCA turned to these Web sites for help with their selection process.
“(Weinbach) had a short tape, but it was not your average stand-up comedy ““ we thought it would add a nice touch to our series,” Mac Donald said.
Weinbach and his student openers aim to create sparks in tonight’s performance. Like an unmarked box of fireworks, this night of comedy will startle and delight its audience.
“Why not get a laugh?” Aryeh said.