To sneak a little more joy into Essex, Yury Karutin has set out to create a comedy club centred around providing entertainment and a community for people to hone their acting, storytelling, joke structures, and overall craft. Alongside him are his team of execs, Shola Osiyemi (vice president), Masha Kelly (treasurer), Edward Porter (welfare officer), and Charbel Manokian (events officer).
Shola shared a little about the formation of the society, discussing how the majority of the execs worked together in TAS for an improv show before realising the value it would bring to campus to make their space more long term.
I got the chance to attend one of the comedy club meetings and see the variety of activities they offered. The group kicked things off with a fun improv game where the group try and guess the “theme” that one of the members come up with. They get to ask questions and based on the yes or no’s of the decider learn whether they’re getting warmer or colder. Breaking the ice between attendees before they began to workshop.
“It’s a space where all things comedy are explored, you have so many different people doing so many different things. It’s a really nice space to develop your creative voice and we gear our events towards games and activities to build that.” Yury looks to build a comfortable group willing to showcase their talents, making comedy more accessible to students who want to get out there. He added that performing can be intimidating but throughout the experiences provided in comedy club, members will be supported and encouraged at their own pace.
Throughout the workshop, Yury discussed basic joke structure and script writing, before introducing a comic template activity to help the flow of ideas. The activity was based on the rule of 3%, introduced by Virgil Abloh, which states that creativity involves taking something pre-existing and adding 3% change.
The activity incorporated the idea through showing part of a comic strip with a blank panel, the members split into groups and filled in the last panel based on their own ideas. I participated in this activity and watched the room come alive with laughter as each person shared their version of the panels, new ideas sparking with each demonstration.
“I wanted to help show people that it can be very very fun to look foolish. I want to show everyone that you can be a great, serious person while enjoying life and making people smile in a silly way.” Charbel shared, adding that he believes society looks down on having fun and letting loose, pushing seriousness. The comedy club looks to provide an
authentic, joyful experience, showing what can happen when you let go of self-consciousness and laugh with others.
Each meeting looks different, with new activities and workshops, as well as game shows and socials. The execs help members hone improv, writing, joke structure, stand-up, and more. For anyone interested in entertainment and comedy, finding likeminded creatives, and bouncing their ideas off of a group, the comedy club is invaluable. The society meets every Friday in CTC 3.05 and are always welcoming newcomers. So, take a risk, get out of your comfort zone and try something new with the University of Essex comedy club.