The life of a college student at Keene State College can certainly be a stressful one. With students having to study for final exams, prepare for the holidays and work a job all at once, the best thing to do is to take a deep breath and laugh.
In the city of Keene, artists with a variety of different talents desire a place where they can go to put those talents on display for an audience to enjoy. One of the most enjoyable art forms everyone involved can use to escape the stresses of their daily lives and have a laugh is stand-up comedy. Unfortunately,finding a venue for an up-and-coming stand-up comedian to perform in the city of Keene can be difficult. Every bar on Main Street brings in a large crowd every week, yet none of them offer stand-up comedy.
Event Coordinator for the KSC Social Activities Council [SAC], Connor Turmelle, has organized comedy events before and said the comedians he’s worked with for SAC have all done well. The comedians who have performed at SAC events before include Saturday Night Live’s Keenan Thompson and Gabriel Iglesias. SAC has had comedians in the Mabel Brown Room on campus and some shows, Turmelle said, were over capacity.
“I think that comedy is an amazing thing,” Turmelle said. “I think it’s something we should always incorporate into our lives especially in college because we’re always so stressed, and I think sometimes we need to be pushed back, laugh and relax because you’re only here so long.”
George Amaru / Art Director
With the demand for stand-up comedy high in Keene, the question still remains: why isn’t there more of a stand-up comedy scene in town? Bar manager, Sam Hoye, at the local bar Cobblestone related to the cause to bring stand-up comedy into the fold, as he is also in a band and wishes live music was more a part of Keene nightlife as well. Hoye would also like to bring an “acoustic night” to Cobblestone, where he and fellow artists could play live music on a real stage.
When asked if he would be open to bringing a stand-up comedy night to Cobblestone, Hoye said, “Of course. If we can bring in an acoustic night, I see no reason why we couldn’t bring in a stand-up night.”
In order to make stand-up comedy happen in Keene, Hoye said, “I think you just need to have somebody behind it, be able to market it, and just say ‘hey look, here are people with talent, come admire them, come see what they have’. Everybody loves showing their talents and I think if you can have somebody behind it, people are just going to gravitate toward it.”
In an area like Keene, with Keene State College being a predominantly liberal arts school that inspires young artists of many genres to work on their craft and embrace creativity, live entertainment could truly thrive.
“It would be great to see a reemergence of creativity around the area,” Hoye said. “Bring back the art scene, bring back the music scene. Let’s get the stand-up comedy scene going again. You have so many talented people in the area. That should be cause to have an outlet for them.”
One of those talented people is Keene State Senior, Steph McCann who has been doing stand-up comedy for two years now. McCann has performed in her home state of Connecticut and writes some of her material on twitter.
“I’ve always loved comedy,” McCann said. “I grew up with it watching stand-up, SNL and different things like that. Any kind of comedy was really big in my life.”
McCann said her favorite part of being a comic is just the fact that she can get on stage and share the material she’s crafted and let her voice be heard.
When asked about the lack of a venue, McCann said, “There needs to be more around here.”
If a stand-up comedy scene were to take root in Keene, McCann said, “That’d be amazing. I think it’s necessary here. I think a lot of people here have something to say. There’s so many great bars in town that are set up to have it. It’s a great town and I’m curious why we don’t have a comedy scene yet.”
Nick Tocco can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com
