In honor of National Let’s Laugh Day on March 17, Sinclair will be hosting a stand-up comedy hour on campus. This will be a free show and will run from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Students can see this event in-person or over Zoom.
Hosting the event is Sinclair staff members Jessica Graue and Michael Canestaro. They will start off the event by performing standup comedy for the audience. After the set, the duo will actually teach students ways to write jokes for themselves. When asked what audience they had in mind for this event, Canestaro joked:
“I target all my material toward a specific demographic. Right now, I am focusing on all humans ages 2 through 110 years old. I’ve tried to reach those less than the age of two years old, but I don’t seem to get a good response. They don’t buy drinks in nightclubs anyway, so to heck with them.”
Since the pandemic started, comedy has become increasingly popular. According to an article by The Conversation, Netflix recorded a drop in viewership for horror titles and a rise in comedies in early 2020, the same time the COVID-19 outbreak started.
“We seek humor in a crisis because it is difficult to feel scared and amused at the same time, and most often, the combination of these emotions results in the feeling thrill and not terror” the article explains.
The website lists this as a plausible reason why comedy has been so popular nowadays. Similarly, Canestaro also noted:
“People need to laugh more now than ever. They say laughter is the best medicine. That’s why Cro-Magnon man went extinct. There weren’t comedy shows back then, and I’m pretty sure that’s why they all died.”
As the pandemic is slowly getting better, some of what stopped in 2020 is starting to return. One of these is live stand-up comedy. Given the popularity, comedy has achieved and how it is now safer to go to live performances, this may be a sign of an upswing in attendance for live Stand-up shows. However, the long-term outcome still remains to be seen.
For more information on the event, students can check the Sinclair website. The website will also have the Zoom link and passcode for those who want to watch the event online.
Alex Cutler
Reporter