Comedy Curious

COMEDY CURIOUS

By Ella mordarski

Maybe I’m a raging narcissist, but I think I’m pretty fucking funny. 

Let me be clear, I would never actually call myself a comedian. I am not funny enough to take on the title, or brave enough to endure the disdain from Hollywood elites with sticks up their asses. However, I am not dull enough to never crack a well-rounded joke. One could say I’m comedy curious. I dabble in the artform, but would have to be fully employed by Saturday Night Live before ever telling my parents.

I would love to tell you my comedy journey started from a young age, but that would be a lie. I suppose you could say I was always trying to make my mom giggle. But looking back, I just wanted to be a child star. I would pose dramatically for photos like I was in Teen Vogue, and I’m pretty sure that’s what my mom was laughing at. Although, let the record show I was very serious about my stardom. It wasn’t until I began watching shows like Girls and Veep that I developed a funny bone. I discovered I have a very dry sense of humor and from there my comedy conviction grew.

I firmly believe there are two things that make a great comedian, and I just happen to be blessed with both of them. First, intelligence. Now, the narcissist thing may be starting to make sense, but stay with me. Comedy is less about the bigger painting and more about the smaller paint strokes that create the image. It’s about how you deliver a line, the timing of a joke, or that weird eye-thing you do. Also, it’s, like, really hard to memorize a set. Most days I can't even remember if I took my anxiety meds… forget an hour set in front of an audience of drunk couples who are counting down the minutes till they can go home and fuck. 

Speaking of SSRIs, the second thing that makes a great comedian is trauma. While I am getting a Bachelors in Science (yes, Emerson has those,) take the forthcoming psychoanalysis with a grain of salt as I am not a professional. Often people with an incredible sense of humor have gone through deeply unfunny things. It's a coping mechanism that, with a little determination, can become a career path. While I would love to trauma dump on you right now, I’ll save that for another column. I’ll edge you today with the fact that my parents got divorced when I was five. Tantalizing, I know. 

Truth be told, the thing that frankly doesn't make me a comedian is my confidence, or rather lack thereof. I have just enough to function daily, and that's about it. I recently switched my “sexy” halloween costume to something a conservative Mormon would be ok wearing, because the thought of people seeing me in 90’s lingerie gave me true terror. Never in my wildest dreams–or strongest dose of Lexapro–could I ever do stand-up. 

A few weeks ago, while venturing to the basement vending machine, I confessed to one of my suit mates that sometimes I get angry at just how conventionally attractive she is (this was partially a joke, partially fact-based). Her response pretty much explains this column, and my qualifications, to a T: “But you're funny and such a great writer!”

 So with that said, While I am not funny enough (or hot enough) for a special on HBO, I am just funny enough for a college comedy column and I hope at least five of you (10 if I’m lucky) feel the same.