Dates: Mondays, 6-8pm EST, from 6/29/20-8/3/20
Duration: 6 weeks
Location: The Internet
Rate: $160
This six-week course will introduce you to the fundamentals of writing and performing stand up comedy and will culminate in a class showcase in which you perform “a loose three.”
This class will take place over Zoom; you will need reliable access to the internet and the Zoom app.
In this 6-week course, you will learn
the fundamentals of joke writing specifically for this comedy medium
how to write a bit
how to effectively workshop and punch up
how to create your specific point of view
tips for navigating the standup scene and circuit, and more!
This is meant as an introductory course and will utilize a variety of teaching methods, including readings and viewings meant as exemplars (or non-exemplars) of the craft. Each class meeting will include exercises, time to write, and time to workshop, and you will also be expected to write outside of class. Even if you have taken (and performed!) improv or sketch, we encourage you to take this course to train your brain to think like a comic.
This class is capped at 14 people.
Dates: Mondays, June 29-August 3
Time: 6-8 pm EST
Where: The Internet
Rate: $160
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTORS
Hilary Brewster is an Associate Professor of English at Marshall University, where she routinely teaches classes on the rhetoric of comedy. An active member of her local standup scene since 2016, she has recently performed at showcases such as the Huntington Music and Arts Fest, Pride Fest, and the annual women’s comedy show. In 2017 she was accepted to the national Women in Comedy Festival in Boston where she performed in both the standup and storytelling categories. She is the most recent winner of the local storytelling competition, Stories from the Cellar. Hilary is also a featured performer in the local sketch comedy group, Coseri, usually typecast as “the b*tch in a blazer.” Hilary earned her PhD in education at (The) Ohio State University and prides herself on being able to teach most anybody most anything. Her academic publications range from analyses of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games to essays about her dad and traveling. She is currently revising an article about Ali Wong and Amy Schumer and slowly working on her one woman show, Wits and Sass.
Nate Cesco started performing comedy in his hometown of Huntington, West Virginia. Throughout his 5+ years of performing all over the East Coast and Midwest, Nate has developed an absurdist/observational take on comedy. Nate has opened for nationally touring acts like Billy Wayne Davis (Conan, Adult Swim, CMT), Darik Santos (NBC), and Dan Alten (Amazon). He's also performed with a bunch of people you'e never heard of before. Those are less impressive in a bio but are still very important to him. Nate is a showrunner at Black Sheep Comedy Night, the premiere comedy spot in all of West Virginia. He also runs several award winning sketch film groups (Coseri, KickbackTV). Nate is an award winning actor and filmmaker, but finds stand up comedy to be the backbone of all of his creative projects.