Friday I participated in Gannon’s version of Last Comic Standing. The event was organized by Theresa Lohn, who is a senior on the Activities Programming Board. It was held in the One Green World Café. There must have been about 150 people there, which I call a pretty successful event, so props to her. Singing comedian Brian O’Sullivan, who has been at Gannon a few times, emceed the event.
I decided to participate when The Gannon Knight adviser Frank Garland suggested it to me. When I heard about it, I kind of thought it would be fun to do, but I never would have done it, had it not been suggested to me.
He said if I failed, it would be an experience. And I guess I didn’t fail. I took third place, with Jill Guiffre winning and Jake Slease coming in second.
It went a lot better than I thought it would – or at least better than I thought it would go about half the time I thought about it. See, when I’m going into any activity I’m nervous about, I alternate between believing the worst will happen, because then it can only go better, and thinking it will go well, so I don’t have a heart attack from the premonitions.
My worst fear was that I would get on stage and be shaking so much I wouldn’t be able to hold the microphone. Sophomore year I did an improv class for fun, and I remember during the final skit I shook so much I couldn’t apply lip gloss, which was part of my character. I literally had to open the bottle with both hands, and hold it with both hands to apply it, and then I spent like five minutes jamming it shut. It was an act all in itself.
But I wasn’t nearly as bad this time. Maybe I have gotten more confident in the last couple of years, or maybe I’ve just realized that I’m going to say stupid stuff and mess up, and things will be all right. I think doing The Knight helped a lot. I pretty much go into every interview unprepared and wing the questions. This is probably not a good idea, but I’m only a student journalist, after all. After flubbing billions of questions, and living to see the other side, I guess I just figured I could get up on that stage and make a fool of myself.
And, that people actually laughed at what I said raised my self-esteem a lot. I picked an easy target – the follies of Gannon – but people laughed at a lot of stuff I didn’t even really intend to be that funny. I guess my awkward ramblings, which I’ve always kind of been embarrassed by, actually could be a strong point.
So, I guess, the point is we all have talents. Or, we all have shortcomings that can be useful.
