The jokes flew fast in a sold-out Spangler auditorium on Wednesday, April 11, during the 3rd annual HBS Comedy Night. Preceded by a generous Student Association-sponsored happy hour in the Spangler Grille, the show featured a dozen aspiring comedians drawn from the HBS student body, including the show’s organizer, Old Section G’s Jess Zhao.
“All of the performers brought such different styles and were hilarious in unique – and often unexpected – ways,” Zhao noted. “It’s great that there’s a place for students to try stand-up, typically for the first time, and that it’s so well received by their peers and classmates.”
The audience remained buoyant throughout the 90-minute show, hosted by New Section D’s Dilan Gomih, and was not disappointed as comics recounted their recruiting travails, lamented interactions with strangers, and dove into life at HBS. New Section E’s Ninad Kulkarni drew laughs as he shared his difficulty discussing sex with his imperious mother, and New Section F president Spencer Fertig brought the house down with his tales of awful aviation consumer experiences. Even the author managed to get few lines in, dropping jokes about his commuter student life that he could then shamelessly quote in his show review.
“My wife and I live an hour away, because when I got in here we decided we prefer grocery shopping in New Hampshire,” he said. “Live Free or Die, motherf****r.”
Audience reactions were positive as well.
“The whole show made me forget that I was watching my classmates – it felt like a professional club!” remarked New Section A’s Smitha Ganeshan. “I was entertained for the entire show.”
The show also had a social payoff, raising over $5,400 for Boston-based charity Cradles to Crayons. Leveraging his FIN-trained forecasting skills, the author is confident the show will make a return – and bring another night of hearty laughter to HBS.
Steve Smith (MBA ‘19) has been The Harbus’ Satire Editor since December 2017, and began practicing the art of comedy over seventeen weeks ago. He’s the author of multiple unpublished poems about millennial sadness, and aspires to one day make people laugh in exchange for food and shelter.
