Freshman Adam Bialek was surprised to find out that Laughter After Dark had been canceled when he returned from winter break.
At first
I didn't believe it. I didn't think it could be cancelled because I've only been here one quarter and I thought it had a really good turnout every Friday night said Bialek, who regularly attended the weekly, two-hour comedy performances.
Administrators at Baker University Center made the decision to cut Laughter After Dark because it is the most expensive program offered in terms of cost per student, said Chad Barnhardt, assistant director at Baker Center.
The shows cost an average of $25,000 per year, or about $3.70 per student per hour of the show. The hourly figure was determined by doubling the average attendance figure to account for two hours of programming, and then that number was divided by $1,000 - the average cost of comedians each week, Barnhardt said.
When you look at the numbers in terms of expenses it's one of the highest costing programs per student attendee. I look at that $3.70 against the $0.42 per student for a movie and it's difficult not to cut a program like that
he said.
Barnhardt blamed the worsening economy for the decision to cut Laughter After Dark.
This isn't related specifically to the Baker Center or Laughter After Dark
but anyone who's been paying any attention to the news over the last year knows that funds have sort of been re-allocated
Barnhardt said. As a university
we're looking at different scenarios and budget cuts
and this was one of the decisions that came out of the budget we have control over.
Laughter After Dark host and coordinator Matt Karp, a junior at OU, said despite current budget cuts, he wants to bring the show back in the future.
I really feel like what we were doing with the show was starting to take hold
Karp said. Unfortunately
the show kind of went out at its height
but to go out on top is better than going out unpopular or running it into the ground.
