Student comics participate in Last Laker Standing

Student comedians took their shot at the comedy competition “Last Laker Standing,” following is a first-hand account from participant Jarrett Weber.

On February 8, I competed in the Last Laker Standing comedy competition and it was an unforgettable experience.

In January, Spotlight Productions, Grand Valley’s student programming board, held auditions for the annual event. Initial auditions included more than 20 contestants, which lead to 10 semi-finalists and five finalists.

This year was the funniest and toughest the competition has ever been. Spotlight was right in sifting down the contestants for semi-finals and finals but horrifyingly wrong for giving me second place.

Just kidding, kind of. With all of my bitterness aside, being on stage was remarkable and I have Spotlight to thank for giving me the opportunity to make Lakers laugh. I was also able to successfully offend some of the audience and I would like to thank Spotlight for that opportunity as well.

This event was fueled off of energy from the Laker community and the audience made this event a success.  Looking at them, gauging their reactions, and being able to see people smile and laugh gives purpose to what we as comedians love to do. And if they don’t laugh at our jokes, well, we cry ourselves to sleep.

The amount of courage it takes to get up on stage and perform in front of a couple hundred people is extraordinary and every comedian from the semi-finals and finals displayed that amount of courage and more. Some of my favorite personal acts were mine (of course), Vincent Persichetti’s from semi-finals, and Luis Valencia’s from finals.

All in all, the highlight of the night for me came from a special guest. Chris Killian, the host of finals, gave me some serious life advice backstage. Advice that I took with me to the finals and advice that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

“Taking Snapchats in public is the weirdest thing, people look at you all weird,” Killian said.

It’s so true. If there is anything I learned from #lastlakerstanding, it is to never, ever, take a Snapchat in public.