Draft #1
Comedy’s origins stretch all the way back to Ancient Greece, and since then it has evolved into several different branches covering all kinds of ground. Made popular by shows like Chappelle’s Show and Saturday Night Live, sketch comedy is one of those branches that integrates itself into many facets. Sketch comedy reaches its audience through all kinds of modes, from television to theaters to small troupes.
One of those small troupes can be found in the University of Florida, as a subset of a comedy group called Theater Strike Force. This sketch comedy team is appropriately called TSF sketch, and features members of all (college) ages who write and perform original sketches. According to a close personal friend of mine, Adriane Jones (who is also a member of TSF Sketch), the group meets once a week to go over and evaluate the sketches the team members write. It is during these meetings that the best sketches are chosen for their next performance.
These performances are almost contingent upon its attendance. Without its audience, there is hardly a point to having a show because “ultimately, it doesn’t matter how good a show is if nobody shows up” (Jones). In order to ensure they have the greatest and fullest audience they can possibly have, each member is required to communicate to a certain extent outside of the group and to the audience in order to promote shows or sketch comedy classes. They do this by advertising for these things in places that are most often frequented by students.
Leading up to a show, the members are required to gain a certain number of “PR points” by handing out flyers about the upcoming shows and personally inviting a decent amount of individuals to attend the show. During our interview, Jones attested that the shows that are advertised bring in a much larger audience than the shows that are not advertised or promoted.
Communication is important for a performing arts group such as this one, both outside the group and inside it. The communication within the team is conducted almost solely in a private Facebook page. The page is used to update members about meetings and their times, as well as all new information about future shows. It is also a way in which members can post questions, concerns, or problems they may have that could be answered by somebody else.
Comedy does a lot more than simply provide people with a few laughs and giggles. Some studies have shown tentative correlations between laughter and improved health. Although laughter appears to have no effect on immunity, it does appear to have an effect on other things. There have been studies that try to link laughter, and the comedy that causes it, to lower depression and to a potentially analgesic effects. There are also several studies that show individuals that have a greater sense of humor report having few illnesses – though other studies have failed to replicate those findings. Despite no concrete evidence, there is enough of an association for further research.