Anyone who missed the big-ticket stand-up acts of Jim Gaffigan and company will still have a chance to chuckle heartily as an all-female student troupe brings their brand of comedy to Bentley Hall.
“Eat While Swimming: A Comedic Variety Show,” a collective of Ohio University’s female comedians, will perform a variety of poetic, sketch and stand-up comedy on Friday in Bentley 227.
Last year’s edition of the show, organized by former Blue Pencil Comedy President Eudora Peterson, was the first experimental break from the organization’s traditional coed style. This year’s edition will feature Blue Pencil comedians alongside others from Friday’s Live, OU Improv and AVW.
Hannah Ticoras, a sophomore member of Blue Pencil Comedy studying English, said she feels like bringing together the styles of these different groups will create something special and interesting to watch.
“It’s just basically everything that we love,” Ticoras said. “I just wanted to make the kind of show that I want to watch.”
Rachel Lewis, a sophomore comedian studying video production and history, said the lack of women in things like comedy and video production makes putting together a show like this more challenging than usual.
“You’re limited by gender, technical skill and people with experience, so it’s a lot of coordination,” Lewis said. “Hannah and I are producing it, but everyone is a team that keeps it going.”
Ticoras said while it was hard to find people who were willing to help, the rest of the process was easy and went smoothly.
Jessica Ensley, a sophomore reporter at The Post and member of Blue Pencil Comedy, will also be involved with the production.
Donations, which have previously been given to the domestic violence agency My Sister’s Place, will instead go to the Susan Cohan Colon Cancer Foundation, and will benefit a fellow performer.
Harper, a senior studying both international business and marketing and a participant in the local public access show Friday’s Live, said that comedy has been a way for her to cope with the colon cancer that she was recently diagnosed with.
“Hannah contacted me and said she wanted to honor me in some way and I just started crying because I couldn’t believe that as a group they would collectively decide to do something as sweet as that,” Harper said.
jd202409@ohiou.edu
