Comedy Corner - History

History

In the fall of 1979 at the University of Arizona, a public management freshman named Adam P. Goldstein created “Closet Comics”, a weekly comedy show premiering every Friday at noon in The Cellar restaurant. Adam was quickly joined by two co-founders, Jim Craig, an Engineering junior with a minor in Drama, and Phil Klinkon, an Architecture junior. When referenced in the Daily Wildcat, the show was called “The Comedy Corner” and later became known as Comedy Corner. The show primarily consisted of stand-up comics, but also featured acts such as punk banjo, juggling, and some sketch work. Comedy Corner was essentially a weekly talent show. Acts would audition on Wednesdays, be critiqued, and then perform on Fridays. Sometimes if the act needed work, it was scrapped for the next week's show. At the time, Comedy Corner had a very low attendance, but it picked up in its first semester.

The first comedy duo to perform was called the Jim and Phil Show. They performed sketches, including one act that started with two Entemology professors from Cambridge, who slowly morph into their favorite insects, ready to mate. Jim and Phil eventually moved to LA to pursue professional comedy careers.

Timothy Gassen and Chad White were also founding Comedy Club members. They met at the club's first organizational meeting, and then formed "The Grubby Theatre Company." Consisting of filmmaker Gassen, musician White and screenwriter Marlowe Weisman (and other rotating members including Mark Hertzog), The Grubby Theatre Company performed songs, roasts and original sketches. The group released a book collection of their material in 1981, and staged a 20th anniversary reunion as one of the headlining acts for the 1999 Comedy Corner "S.I.C.K." festival shortly before the original Student Union and Cellar was demolished.

This era of Comedy Corner also saw the comedy of Bob Rubin, now a national stand-up comedian. Bob performed over-the-top antics, including bringing a motorcycle into The Cellar one week to allegedly attempt to jump the audience Evil Knievel-style.

By the spring semester of 1982, Comedy Corner became a popular attraction on campus. It was during this period that Garry Shandling hosted a show. To increase its visibility, Comedy Corner members performed a promotional show on a local radio station. Later, the radio show was canceled because someone made a joke involving rape on air.

When founder Goldstein left, he summed up his Comedy Corner experience with this perplexing advice: “Don’t serve the dessert before the chili.”

In 1983, Comedy Corner nearly fell apart. As only two students, Bill Berry and Mike Sterner, had not graduated, the show became a series of two-man sketches with the added help of one new member, Terry Owen. After Berry left, Sterner and Owen were so desperate to fill time, they had an open mic in the middle of the show. Recognizing the problem, Sterner ran a newspaper ad soliciting “regulars”. Six people showed up, including Bill Bernat and Paul Smitherman, who said they would only perform if they could wear lab coats.

Comedy Corner was then reconstituted into a stand-up and sketch comedy format revolving around a weekly theme, such as "Safety Week", "Vaudeville is Dead Week," and "Bill Berry's - A Salute to Cafeterias." Sketches were written over the weekends, then rehearsed on Mondays. On Wednesdays, they were polished and assigned props and costumes. On Fridays, the show was performed in front of a live audience.

Through the next 30 years, Comedy Corner transformed into a sketch and improv troupe. They currently perform a weekly show on Wednesday nights at 9:30pm in The Cellar Bistro (which was rebuilt under the same name in the new Student Union). Shows consist of a half-hour of original sketch comedy followed by a half-hour of improv.

From its inception, Comedy Corner has had financial operational support (for props and costumes) by the University Activities Board. In 1995, Comedy Corner also received its first and last sponsorship of $1500 from a major corporation, Miller Light. The sponsorship only lasted a year. After the breakup, Comedy Corner went on to marry a doctor living in Manhattan, who was easily convinced to move to the suburbs of long Island and start a family. Miller Lite went back to dating their High-school sweetheart (Who was fresh out of Joliet Jail) in Wheaton, Illinois.