A few years back, Connecticut College had a stand-up comedy club on campus. The club was disbanded after some jokes told at an open mic in 2014 ruffled a few too many feathers. Now, student John Chatigny ’18, member of the improv group N20, is determined to bring the club back and restore glory to stand-up on campus.
The College Voice: What experience do you have with stand up?
John Chatigny: I did it once. There used to be a club. They had an open mic at Coffee Grounds, and uh… I did that. It was like three minutes. I liked it.
TCV: So you’ve been approved as a club again?
JC: Hopefully…well not hopefully…I know we’ve been approved.
TCV: What are you doing to make sure there isn’t trouble with offending anyone this
time around?
JC: We’re gonna vet the people.
TCV: What does that mean?
JC: You know, we’ll make sure no one is…explicitly trying to offend anyone.
TCV: So what fueled your desire to have this stand up club on campus?
JC: I think a lot of people who wouldn’t want to do improv or aren’t involved with it and still want to be involved in comedy should have a platform to express themselves. And I think it’s a great way to express yourself. I think stand-up is a very interesting art form because you can go about it in several different ways. You can just write up a bunch of jokes and tell them, or you can write up a bunch of stories. So I think it would be cool to have a bunch of kids who you normally wouldn’t think would do this sort of thing, going out and doing it.
TCV: What do you envision this club being?
JC: The goal for the club is to get a solid group of people who are down to hash out some material and work together and collaborate. But there’s also gonna be some open mics. Really the goal is for everybody who wants to, to try their hand at stand-up.
TCV: So you want the club to be inclusive then? Is that a priority?
JC: Inclusive but also…productive, I would say. You know, [I’d] make sure that everybody who’s involved is either working on something or helping other people work on stuff so that everybody is getting stuff done. While we could just mess around, I think the vision I have is more about getting a roster of people who are comfortable with their material.
TCV: Why do you think stand-up is the best platform for expressive comedy?
JC: It’s the best way to see how a person’s mind is working, I guess. It gives you a direct glimpse into their psyche. Because everything else: sketch, improv, you know you sort of have to play by the rules. Whereas in stand-up, the only rule is really like…don’t be an asshole.
TCV: In your mind, what does it mean to be an asshole here?
JC: Don’t set out to go out and try to make other people feel uncomfortable and offend people. I mean, there are people who do that. But, that doesn’t really have a place here. I mean in my mind, there’s people like Anthony Jeselnik. But when people go to an Anthony Jeselnik show, they understand that that’s his shtick… just being offensive. So here, I mean that would be the only rule. But otherwise, you can talk about whatever. You can talk about your class, about your hometown; you can talk about things you think about in your day-to-day life. I think stand-up’s a good platform for someone who wants a voice to be heard…They can just get up and say what they want for as long or as little as they want. They can get up for a minute. They can get up for five or ten minutes and say what they want to say. And then you just get off.
TCV: What is the biggest draw to stand-up for you?
JC: I would enjoy just seeing how I would do. Also, I have ideas for stupid jokes that I can’t really mention anywhere else. So it would be a good platform for me, and I’m sure others, to just say…dumb stuff. (laughs)
TCV: Who else is involved in the club?
JC: Originally I was gonna say that there wouldn’t be any officers…There wouldn’t be any strict positions. But to be an official club, you need to have a president, a vice president, and a treasurer. So Will Kadison ’17 is the vice president and then Drew (Chapman) ’18 is the treasurer.
TCV: When will this all start up?
JC: We still gotta figure out where we’ll meet. I’ll probably make some posters or something.
TCV: Have any jokes for me?
JC: Any jokes? I don’t know. Do you have any jokes for me?
TCV: No.
JC: I can tell you a weird thing that happened to me. Does that work?
TCV: Of course.
JC: You know when you’re in Harris and…I don’t know if this has ever happened to you. I’ll just tell you…I was in Harris the other day, and one of the things I was eating was green beans. Or string beans…whatever the fuck. And I like wanted to get up and get a drink and I figured I could stand up, eat a green bean and then go get a drink. And instead like the green bean is huge, so I stand up and I take a bite of it, and I’m chewing and I’m walking to get a drink, and I realize I’m just holding a green bean in my hand and I’m walking across Harris. So I figure like this…not a good look…like this is kind of weird. So I just kind of finished it at the drink machine. Other people are filling their cups and I’m just eating a green bean. And I, uh, fill my cup and go back to the table.
TCV: Anything you’d like to add to this interview?
JC: Come on by and join the club. No experience necessary. It’s open to all. The club will start organized meetings in the coming weeks. Look out for posters!
