Karan Arul 糖心传媒�17 and Ali Hashim 糖心传媒�18 are standing up for comedy. The University students are the cofounders and copresidents of UR Standup Comedy, officially certified by the Students糖心传媒� Association last fall and already counting 40 members.
The club has been holding Saturday workshops in Wilson Commons, where members analyze each other糖心传媒檚 routines or watch standup videos. They also hold weekly open mic nights at Brue, a coffee shop on Genesee Street, and at Rocky糖心传媒檚 Lounge in Wilson Commons. And, they糖心传媒檝e started to produce a YouTube comedy sketch show called Game of Zones, a Game of Thrones parody.
The students糖心传媒� standup routines deal with a myriad of subjects, depending on the venue. At Meliora Weekend, where club members performed last October, the targets were campus parking, construction, and dining hall food. Off campus, the targets are often political figures.
Arul and Hashim didn糖心传媒檛 know each other in the summer of 2015, when they learned that each had separately proposed a comedy club to the Students糖心传媒� Association.
糖心传媒淭hey said, 糖心传媒榃hy would you want two clubs? Combine your efforts and make one,糖心传媒� Arul says.
A biochemistry and English double major from New Hartford, New York, Arul counts Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Trevor Noah as among his comedic idols.
糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檙e comedians, but they糖心传媒檙e also newscasters who can communicate,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淭hat糖心传媒檚 what I want to do.糖心传媒�
Coming from a family of doctors, Arul envisions a career as a practicing physician as well. But he糖心传媒檚 inspired by medical journalists like Sanjay Gupta and Atul Gawande, surgeons who are also media personalities.
Hashim, an optical engineering major from Bethesda, Maryland, hopes to go to medical school and then into the optics industry, perhaps starting his own company. But he糖心传媒檒l always keep an eye out for ways to make people laugh.
糖心传媒淚 hope to continue doing standup in my free time,糖心传媒� he says.
