Comedy Conglomerate can't contain the crowds content
By Noah Hayden and Victoria Krizek
Nov. 17, 2021
The Comedy Conglomerate attracts a full house at the Milk Parlor as they perform their signature stand-up show.
Blacksburg, Va, Nov. 17, 2021 - The Comedy Conglomerate: The only club at Virginia Tech that hosts stand-up performances gets ready to perform once again.
The art of stand-up is a rare commodity in the world of entertainment. The fragile atmosphere, the spotlight centered on a single person and the unknown comedic taste of the crowd often scare away the average stand-up amateur. Comedy Conglomerate, a club at Virginia Tech, is anything but the average stand-up amateur.
Throughout the last few months, Comedy Conglomerate has quadrupled its membership. “We are starting to introduce professional members into the Comedy Conglomerate to perform with us,” said Bennett Spear, club president. “We’re performing at more venues and now we’re starting to collaborate with other organizations.”
More club members mean a larger audience, and their performance at The Milk Parlour was no exception. The restaurant hosted a full house in anticipation of a night full of laughs, a reputation that the Comedy Conglomerate has achieved during its years of performing at the establishment. Behind the set’s curtains, where the performers prepared themselves for their time on stage, many were feeling anxious. The performers with less experience rehearsed their bit and received praise from the club’s more skilled members. On the other hand, performers who were not feeling the nerves of the night played old-school video games like Pac-Man on the Playstation 2.
Nonetheless, all eight performers brought the crowd to hysterical laughter. Aayush Patodiya, the club's treasurer, started the night with a witty critique on sidewalks. “I hate sidewalks; they always tell me what to do,” said Patodiya. “If I want to walk out into the street and get hit by a car that’s fine. It just means more money for tuition.”
Patodiya is just one of the many performers that have mastered the art of comedy during their experience with the organization. In fact, there are well over 30 members in the Comedy Conglomerate. The club meets to work on their craft every other week, critiquing one another’s jokes before they perform.
A good motto the club goes by is that there’s never a bad performance. They understand that people are going to struggle when they start out. Instead of penalizing members for a bad performance, they embrace the start of a new comedian. The club has helped many of its members grasp what it's like to be a true comedian; one could say that the Comedy Conglomerate is an unofficial work opportunity for young standup artists.
“When you first try comedy, you’re not going to be a Chapelle, or a Melanie or a professional comedian. Most people bomb when they first try out comedy and that’s okay,” Spear said. “But, through our club, we noticed that people significantly improve as they do more shows, as they start practicing, as they train along with us and that’s honestly a really cool thing to see.”
The Comedy Conglomerate is the only club at Virginia Tech that performs standup, a unique trait that has helped them over the years. With this semester coming to a close, it’s safe to say that the club has exceeded expectations.
