Club Spotlight: Ha Ha Hofstra Standing up for comedy
Aoife Maher-Ryan / The Hofstra Chronicle
On Monday nights, members of Ha Ha Hofstra gather in room 216 of Breslin Hall to craft jokes and practice their stand-up material.
The student-run stand-up comedy club is currently preparing for their third and final showcase of the semester, which will take place on Friday, Nov. 22, in the Cultural Center Theater. The showcase is a chance for members to perform five minutes of the best material they have spent their meetings working on.
William Faber, a junior televsion production major and the president of Ha Ha Hofstra, has been organizing the upcoming showcase and getting the word out on campus. Faber has been part of the club since his first year at Hofstra.
Freshman finance major Robert Forte said to expect the lineup at the showcase to be diverse. “Everyone has very different styles, but it still feels very cohesive.” Forte, who joined Ha Ha Hofstra earlier this semester, said, “[Faber] saw stand-up comedy in me, and also I could tell by the inflection in his voice that he really knew Ha Ha had a lot of potential and he wanted to get more people involved.”
Others joined the club as a way to overcome fears. “I have bad social anxiety at times, so I joined the club as a way to get experience with something that is confronting that,” said junior history major Kyle Brambani.
Each meeting, the club focuses on amplifying everyone’s voice and comedic style by giving members a chance to perform and get constructive feedback. “Some people are naturally funny just in the way that they are or how they behave, but it’s about showing and telling them what is funny about them and allowing them a space to explore their persona on stage,” Faber said.
Members are inspired by a variety of comedians, such as Cat Cohen, Anthony Jeselnik, Bo Burnham and John Mulaney. Mattie Brown, a sophomore psychology and philosophy double major and treasurer of the club, said being exposed to different types of comedy is helpful in finding one’s own comedic voice. “Knowing what you think is funny can help you figure out your voice and style,” Brown said. “One of the things I feel proud of is that I’m no longer trying to do an impression of funnier people, but I’m starting to be me; which is a less funny person than them, but I’m still me.”
Faber said Ha Ha Hofstra gives students interested in comedy more independence and control of their material. “I have dabbled in all of the comedy venues on campus, and part of the reason I have stayed at Ha Ha Hofstra and why I’m passionate about the club is because it’s a place where it is so singularly your vision of how you want something to come out – you’re not writing something that is then performed by other people; you’re not doing something that will never be seen again; you’re building a portfolio of jokes that work and represent you,” he said.
Adam Brownstein, a senior double major in television production and philosophy and vice president of the club, said developing and knowing what material is good is subjective. Brownstein continued, “I think something that might be funny to myself might be different from what [Faber] or [Forte] find funny. I think find a niche, find your audience, know what works and what doesn’t and keep on practicing.”
Ha Ha Hofstra is also encouraging more inter-club collaboration with the other comedy clubs on campus. “We’re currently talking about collaborating with the improv club, Ambiguity, next semester and we collaborate with Nonsense Humor a lot because there is an overlap with a lot of the members,” Faber said. Nonsense and Ha Ha Hofstra have a show planned for next semester titled “Girls and Gays: A Comedy Event.”
Brownstein’s goal is that the club continues to grow, but he acknowledges that “stand-up comedy is not for everyone. It can be nerve-wracking, but we try to make Ha Ha Hofstra a [welcoming] community, so I think if we get more involved in the Hofstra community to get our name out there, hopefully, more people join and come back.”
