The Coolest Kids in School: The Surprising Influence of the National College Comedy Festival
I wrote this article on Skidmore’s National College Comedy Festival for Splitsider. It’s easily the most research I’ve done in my life.
Read, comment with your Skidmore stories, pass it along, and tell me what you think!
When I was a freshman at this festival, I saw the Hammerkatz perform what are now famous Derrick sketches. Derrick didn’t exist yet. But that set had connections between each sketch, and merged stage sketch with video. They even pre-recorded video in the theater to make it look like we were seeing what happened live right after a character stormed out of the theater. I felt like I had never really seen sketch until then.
On the same night, I saw UCB TourCo for the first time. Anthony King started their show by saying it was really special for them to be there, because they remember being there as college students themselves. Then they performed the most incredible improv set I’d ever seen in my life. The cast was Anthony King, Chris Gethard, Shannon O’Neill, Neil Casey, and Joe Wengert.
It was no surprise when the members of Derrick came back the next year as Derrick, a professional group, after graduating from the Hammerkatz (when you’re in college comedy, you graduate from your comedy group, not your school). I didn’t know they would do improv, and not sketch. They raised the bar and showed me again the best improv I’d ever seen up till then. I was already doing everything I could to contribute to making receSs a group that someone could see on stage one day and be even somewhat inspired to try to accomplish the same.
I really think that at Skidmore, there is never anything like seeing your first Skidmore show, and there is never anything like performing in your last Skidmore show.
Read this article.
This is awesome.
The NCCF is what motivated me in school. My group was mostly short-form before we went my Freshman year, and the festival changed it all. People started reading Truth in Comedy, taking UCB classes. It was awesome. As Director I would pump people up for Skidmore the day they got in the group, letting them know each year that “This year we’ll do better than ever!” I’ve gained SO much from 4 NCCF’s that I can’t imagine what life would be like without it.
Easily the best weekend of my year. I hope someday to return.
My name is Mark. 